The Secret of Blackwood
by darkangel6021
Summary: (Slenderman fiction) When 18 year old Nancy Gale arrived into the isolated town of Blackwood, she never expected to be reacquainted with an old and mysterious friend that she had long since forgotten. As Nancy stays longer in the town, she starts to realize that a dark and frightening secret is being kept, followed by a dangerous creature that she had once encountered years ago...
1. Prologue

Summary: When 18 year old Nancy Gale arrived into the isolated town of Blackwood, she never expected to be reacquainted with an old and mysterious friend that she had long since forgotten. As Nancy stays longer in the town, she starts to realize that a dark and frightening secret is being kept, followed by a threatening creature that she had once encountered years ago. Can Nancy and her new friends uncover the secret and stop the evil that threatens to take over the town? Read to find out! Also ratings may change later.

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The Secret of Blackwood

By darkangel6021

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Prologue

**_Eight years ago,_**

_Deep within the forest, in the middle of the day, a little girl sitting in a patch of wild flowers. with the breeze flowing through her lushious, shoulder-length cheastnut hair, brushing like fine strands of cotton against her light blue dress she sat in with a tranquile aura, picking at the little petals off of a daisy. She had moved into her new home just three days ago with her parents due to their jobs, therefore had yet to have made any new friends. Her parents were in the advertising buisness and would often move from one town to another every few months, didn't help her at all with her social life. Nevertheless, she was use to it, of course after five years of constant travelling and going to different schools it begins to be part of daily life. And yet, deep inside her heart, she did wish that she could at least make ONE long-lasting friendship with someone, even if it meant she had to leave again._

_As she continued to play with the flowers, she was unaware of a mysterious figure lurking amongst the tall trees, watching intensely before slowly striding towards her from behind, almost as if he was gliding like a ghost. It was only when the figure loomed over her, the shadow appearing in her point of view, did she turn and look up._

_The figure was a man, or at least that's what she thought it was and yet at the same time this person looked...strange. He was an extremely tall, thin man with pale skin, in a firm black suit with a dark red tie, making him look quite sharp and well dressed. However, what was strange about this being was his face, or to be more exact, the **lack** of a face. He had no eyes and mouth, so it was hard to tell what he was thinking or feeling. In fact, he had no ears, nose or hair! The lack of any description of the creature's features made it all the more unnatural for anyone!_

_Now, if an adult or a scared child came across someone like that, their first, not to mention reasonable, reaction would've been to scream and start running for their lives, do whatever they could to get away from the entity. However, this little girl was neither an adult NOR a scared child. She stared at the person in front of her while the person seemed to do the same thing, almost as if they were studying one another._

_What had happened next seemed to have surprised this mysterious person. The little girl...smiled sweetly at the entity. She then stood up, still smiling as she continued to look up at him before she presented him with a flower that she had yet to play with before she spoke. "Hi there! My name's Nancy. What's your name?"_

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_Okay, not exactly my best beginnings but...a beginning all the same. This is my first slenderman fanfiction and I hope it will be a successful one. so please ready and review. Albert Barnes Inigo_


	2. Returning to the Town of Isolation

Summary: When 18 year old Nancy Gale arrived into the isolated town of Blackwood, she never expected to be reacquainted with an old and mysterious friend that she had long since forgotten. As Nancy stays longer in the town, she starts to realize that a dark and frightening secret is being kept, followed by a dangerous creature that she had once encountered years ago. Can Nancy and her new friends uncover the secret and stop the evil that threatens to take over the town?

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Chapter 1: Returning to the Town of Isolation

**Present Time, Eight Years Ago,**

"God-dammit! Stupid car is acting up again!" a young woman cried out in exasperation as she got out of her car to check the engine in the hood. Nancy Gale had recently finished her first year in college down in San Francisco and decided to spend some time away from the city to somewhere quiet and away from her family before starting college again. Although she loved them dearly, particularly her little sister, she was getting frustrated with her parents' constant nagging about her life and her choices that she was making. So she thought that her best place for some solitude was to go to the town of Blackwood where she had once lived for a short period when she was a little girl. The house that she use to live in was still under her parents' name since they never sold the place after moving, and they recently paid some people to refurbish the building after eight years of being abandoned.

Now, she was stuck half-way to the town with her broke-down vehicle, and no repair tools or any signs of a car repair shop. As soon as she popped the hood open, a huge cloud of smoke burst out, causing her eyes to water. Well...it looks as if the damage was more serious than she first thought.

"Damn! Looks like your radiator there is done for!" a male voice called out to her from behind. When she turned to look at who spoke, she saw a man in his early twenties, with fair hair and well built, driving a blue pick-up truck.

"Yeah, it looks that way. Do you happen to know where the nearest repair shop is?" Nancy asked, half hoping that it wasn't too far. Of course, knowing her luck so far, she doubted that.

"I'm afraid that the only closest repair shop is in the outskirts of Blackwood," the young man answered. "I'll tell you what, why don't I drive you there? I was just heading down to the town anyway."

Nancy perked up, pleased to receive help. "Sure, I mean if that's not too much trouble for you."

"Nah, no trouble at all. Hop in!" he said as he opened the passenger door on the right hand side. As soon as she put the hood back on, grabbed her backpack and locked the car, she then hopped into the pick-up truck and shut it before the man started driving towards the town.

"So...what brings you to these parts miss? Off to see some relatives?" The man asked after five minutes of silence.

"Well actually, I've come from San Francisco to live in Blackwood for a short holiday, possibly get a small part-time job. You see, my parents had bought a house some years ago when we first came to live there for a short time before leaving again, and they never sold that house. So I thought that living in the town once again would be a good place to be away from city life and family," Nancy explained. "I'm Nancy by the way. Nancy Gale."

"Nice to meet you Nancy, I"m Charles Barnsworth. But you can call me Karl if you want since most people that know me do," he said with a smile.

"Nice to meet you, Karl," Nancy began. "So Karl, are you off to Blackwood for a visit or something?"

"Me? Nah, I live there. I just had to pop into the city to visit my sister. She married some guy who works at a big company down there, has had two kids with him as well," he said, however there was a sense of bitterness in his tone this time.

Nancy grew curious. "I take it that you do not approve of her marriage with this man?" she then asked.

"Oh it's not that. I mean, I have nothing against the guy. Just that my sister married someone who wasn't staying in the town, an outsider. Not that we have anything against outsiders!" Karl quickly stated, hoping that he didn't offended the young girl. "But you must understand, we are somewhat of a tight-nit group in the town, that's why our town is so far away from other civilization. We don't like it so much when one of our townspeople leave Blackwood to go off elsewhere. We've already had five families move out because of the influence of the outside world."

"I see...," Nancy began, already feeling nervous about going to Blackwood. "I don't suppose I'll receive a warm welcome from my new neighbors now will I?"

Karl smiled. "Oh no, quite the opposite in fact! You'll receive a great BIG welcome from your neighbors! In fact, I'm sure even the Mayor will come by to welcome you."

"Really?! I thought that with me being an 'outsider', everyone would be shunning me out of society or something," Nancy said, surprised by what she heard.

"Nah, they like new visitors. Besides, you said that you once came to Blackwood years ago, therefore you're not entirely and outsider, more like an old aquaintance," Karl explained before slowly coming to a stop in front of the repair shop. "Ah, here we are. Let's see if good old Phil can help ya."

After thirty to forty minutes of sending the truck down to pick up Nancy's car and bringing it to the shop, Nancy waited to hear the verdict from Phil, the old mechanic. Even Karl stayed in case Nancy need a lift over to her place.

"Well, the good news is it's fixable. The bad news is, with a couple of other cars that I need to repair first, it won't be done until tomorrow afternoon," Phil explained.

Nancy sighed. "Oh well, on the plus side at least I'm already at my destination." She then went through her bag and took out her iphone, rummaging through her notes. "Umm...can you tell me where Douglas street is? The house is just in that area."

"Oh you mean 'Devil's Den' street. It used to be called Douglas, but the name got changed ever since that terrible incident that occurred eight years ago," Phil explained, with a grim look on his face.

Well that certainly got Nancy's curiosity. "Incident? What incident?"

"Now now Phil, we don't want to give poor Nancy here a fright just because of what happened eight years ago," Karl said.

"The young lady has the right to know if she's gonna be here for a while, especially in that part of town," Phil argued.

"Yes but-!" Karl tried to protest.

"No that's alright, I'm curious to hear the story anyways," Nancy said before turning to Phil. She didn't know why, but she was quite eager to hear what had happened in the town. It was as if it was important for her to hear it.

Seeing that he had the young girl's attention, Phil began telling the story. "Eight years ago, a group of kids went into the woods near that area playing their silly games as usual. But sometime later, something happened. A couple of those kids came out of the woods screaming, saying that there was a monster in the forest and it had attacked them. At first we thought that they were playing a silly prank over us, that was until we entered the forest to search for the other children, only to find most of them either slaughtered to death or their bodies never recovered, their blood seeping into the grounds as though the earth was sucking it, with only a small group of survivors either traumatized or seriously hurt. When our local sheriff came and asked who had attacked them, they all said the exact same thing: that it was a strange, human-like monster with razor sharp claws that had attacked and killed their friends. Despite our constant search for the creature, no one could find it. So now, no one goes into those woods, not even our bravest and strongest of men will enter there. So from this day forward, we now call Douglas street Devil's Den street," he said before continuing. "Now I don't know why it happened, especially to those poor kids, but I do know one thing. That demon is still lurking in those woods, waiting for his next prey to come into his territory."

After hearing that story, Nancy was left stunned. Eight years ago was around the time when she and her family first came to Blackwood, however she could not recall any incident that Phil had just described. But then again, she couldn't remember much about Blackwood at all. Apparently she had hit her head against a tree, causing her to have dissociative amnesia, meaning that she has no recollection of her time in the town. All she vaguely remembered was waking up one day in her bed, her parents sitting at her bedside worried out of their mind, with a head injury.

"Alright Old Phil, that's enough horror for one day," Karl spoke up at last, bringing Nancy out of her train of thoughts. He then turned towards her, a nervous smile plastered on his face. "Well Nancy, now that you've learned a little about our town, although I wish it were more pleasant, why don't I take you and your luggage to your house?"

After collecting the rest of her belongings from her car and placing them in the back of Karl's truck, the pair drove out of the repair shop in silence and headed up towards Devil's Den street. As Nancy stared out of the truck window, staring at the redwood trees that passed by, she couldn't help but think about what Phil had said about the 'monster' attack that happened all those years ago. She couldn't explain it, but she felt as if both Phil's story and her amnesia experience were connected somehow. In fact, that was one of her reasons for come back to Blackwood, in hopes of regaining the memories that she had lost since her parents were unable to tell her what had happened.

Although this day left her with more questions than answers, Nancy Gale knew that soon enough, she would unravel the mysteries to her past.

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Well this is the first actually chapter. Sorry to disappoint you all who were anxious to have Slender man appear. He won't appear for at least another chapter or two. Anyways, this was a difficult chapter to write out since I wrote a story within a story. Usually I' m terrible doing it like that. Hope this gives you a better idea about the story and I hope you enjoy it. Read and review please.


	3. Welcome Overload

Summary: When 18 year old Nancy Gale arrived into the isolated town of Blackwood, she never expected to be reacquainted with an old and mysterious friend that she had long since forgotten. As Nancy stays longer in the town, she starts to realize that a dark and frightening secret is being kept, followed by a threatening creature that she had once encountered years ago. Can Nancy and her new friends uncover the secret and stop the evil that threatens to take over the town? Read to find out! Also ratings may change later.

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Chapter 2: Welcome Overload

After Nancy was dropped off outside of the house, Karl went back home to his family, but not before telling her that if she needed any help, to not hesitate on calling him. He even left her his home number. Once Karl had left, Nancy turned to face the front of the house, which had a veranda up front, took in a deep breath and walked up towards the front door. As Nancy took her first steps inside the house, slowly dragging her luggage behind her, her eyes swept over her surroundings. Even though she hadn't lived there for long, it still felt like home to her somehow. She couldn't remember much thanks to the slight amnesia from way back, but she could sense that there were once happy times.

Now although her parents weren't entirely comfortable with her going far from home, they supported her nevertheless. They even ordered some new furniture bits for the house since all the furniture that had been there were either sold or went with them when they moved out of Blackwood. It looked as if her parents even organized the movers to arrange the furniture, even though the clear plastic covers were still on the red sofas. On the whole, the living area of the house was quite pleasant, with its cream colored walls, dark hardwood floors with new red carpets and cream colored curtains with poppy designs. Even the dinning area seemed alright from the where she was standing. Seeing that there were more rooms to explore, she left all her stuff in the living room and started looking at all the other rooms.

The kitchen was quite small, however there was still enough room for her to cook, with the dinning room big enough for at least four to five people. Even though there was a bedroom downstairs, with an outdoor patio right next to it, she remembered that her parents once used it as their office. Seeing that there was a slim chance of having people over for a sleepover, she decided that she would use it as a computer room. There was even a large bathroom area with a large utility space right next to it. Then when she got upstairs, she stood around the balcony area, looking from her parents' old bedroom to the second bathroom till finally she stopped in front of her old room. After a minute of standing there, feeling surprisingly nervous, she slowly opened the door and peeked inside.

The room was exactly as she had left it, besides the new bigger bed that her parents got placed. Cream colored walls with baby blue carpet covering the floor, however the entire wall was filled with sketches and colorings that she drew on the wall when she was ten. As she slowly entered her room, she got a better looks at the drawing that she did. They were like any innocent drawings that a child would've done, colorful flowers with a grassland background, followed by cute little animal drawings to go with the scenery. Looking at them made her realize how much she had changed over the years, from a sweet little girl with a playful attitude to a spunky Tomboy with feisty attitude and an open mind. As she scanned through her artwork, she then saw something that stuck out. It was of an image of herself that she drew, with her once favorite blue dress and the shoulder-length hair that she used to have, for her hair was now down to her hips and layered in a manner that made it look scruffy, and of someone else standing right next to her, hand-in-hand. However it was that _someone_ that really stood out, a really tall figure in a black outfit with long black tentacles sticking out, making him look like a humanoid tree. It was the sort of style that would've been unlike for her to draw back then. As she stared at that image, she began to wonder whether or not that she had actually met someone like that in her past. And if so, was this person somehow linked to her amnesia incident?

Just then, she heard a knock at the front door, bringing her out of her thoughts. After tearing herself away from her drawings, she then rushed down the stairs and and answered the door, coming face-to-face with two men.

The first one was a portly man in his late forties, with a rounded face and a pencil moustache, and wearing a gray suit with a red tie. He even had his bald head combed over with his brown hair. The second man, who stood still behind the other man, was a tall broad bloke in his early thirties with blonde hair, with a gruff look plastered on his face, also wearing a suit. This one looked more like a bodyguard, with his straight posture and dark sunglasses covering his eyes. He even had gun which he kept in the holster by his side.

As soon as the first man looked at Nancy, he quickly smiled at her, much like a Cheshire cat. "Hi I'm Hal Thompson, Mayor of this town. You must be Nancy Gale, the newcomer. We heard from Karl that you had arrived and I just had to come over and welcome you to our town!" he said as he firmly shook her hand.

"Uh...nice to meet you Mr Thompson," she replied, his grin making her feel uneasy. She then looked towards the other man. "And you are..?"

"Ah this is Roger Hamilton, he's my personal bodyguard. After all, someone of my position cannot be too careful," Mr Thompson explained whilst the man known as Roger lightly nodded his head towards her.

"Nice to make your acquaintance Miss Gale," Roger then said briefly before reverting back to silence. Nancy only nodded in response.

"Well, now that we have introduced ourselves and welcomed you to our town, we had best be off. I've got some businesses to take care of at the council meeting," the Mayor explained. "But I hope you enjoy your stay here for as long as possible. And I hope you enjoy our hospitality."

Once both the mayor and his bodyguard left, Nancy closed the door, stood still for a moment before deciding to unpack her belongings before going out to get some food for the house. She had only just managed to move two steps away from before she heard another knock at the door.

Sighing, she then walked back to the door and opened it to find a couple of elderly ladies carrying a basket full of home made goods. "Hello there dearie, I'm Sophia Hudson and this is my sister Gloria. We live just across the street from you. Welcome to our town dear."

_'Oh boy, here we go again,'_ she thought before forcing herself to put a smile on her face and started greeting her neighbors.

For three whole hours, different families from the town came and went, both young and old, introducing, welcoming her and giving her gift baskets filled with either home-cooked meals or household supplies. By the time the number of people started diminishing, it was already early in the evening and Nancy was worn out! On the plus side, with all the food she received as gifts, that meant she didn't have to go out until tomorrow.

After cautiously waiting for any new neighbors for thirty minutes, Nancy finally relaxed and went back to doing what she wanted to in the first place...unpacking her stuff. She had only just managed to open up her luggage when there was another knock at the door.

"Oh for crying out loud!" Nancy muttered so whoever was knocking at her door wouldn't hear. So once again, she dragged herself backed to the door and answered it. It was then she was greeted by a family of three, a woman and two young boys.

"Hi there, my name is Julia Harper, your next door neighbor," the woman, who looked to be in her late thirties explained before she began introducing her boys. "And these are my sons; my eldest Jake, and my youngest Benjamin." Both boys briefly greeted Nancy, although Jake's greeting seemed to have a negative tone to it, where as Benjamin's was cheerier.

"Well nice to meet you Mrs Harper, as well as you two. My name is Nancy. Nancy Gale," she greeted, slowly inspecting the three. Like their mother, the eldest Jake, who was about the same age as Nancy, had black hair and blue eyes, quite handsome in fact, yet had a bored look on his face. The younger boy Benjamin, who looked to be about eight to ten years old and mostly likely looked more like his father, with his green eyes and ginger hair, was a cute little boy with spiky ginger hair, round glasses and freckles on his cheeks.

"We would've gotten here sooner, but I'm afraid I had some rather important things to do. After all, being a single hard-working mother isn't easy," Mrs Harper explained before handing her a large container. "Oh by the way, this is for you. It's my homemade cinnamon pie, one of my specialties."

Nancy, who had an extremely sweet tooth, took the container and eyed it keenly. "Well thank you Mrs Harper, I'll most definitely enjoy this pie!"

"Well I'm glad you feel that way," she said. She then looked at her watch. "Oh dear! I've got a late night shift at the dinner that I work for! Jake I'm afraid I'm gonna have to leave you in charge of the house as well as your little brother."

"But mom-!" Jake began to argue.

"I don't have time to argue with you dear! Now let's go so I can get ready to go to work. Nice meeting you Nancy," Mrs. Harper said as she started walking back to her house, with Jake following behind. "Come along Benjamin!"

"Coming mom! Bye Nancy! Nice to see you!" Benjamin said as he started to follow after his mother. Nancy waved goodbye in response before going back into her house.

As soon as she was sure that no one else was going to be suddenly greeting her or give her anymore welcome gifts, she flopped down on the sofa, exhausted and fed up. "Man~! I'm never gonna get any rest in this town," she said to herself before looking at the cinnamon pie that Mrs Harper gave her. Unable to resist the temptation that was in front of her, she got out a table spoon from one of her luggage and happily started eating it.

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Okay, chapter two done. Although it pretty much took a whole weekend to do this. Hopefully it won't be too long before I upload the next chapter. And I have now started introducing some of the new characters that are vital to the story. You'll find out more later. Read and review please.


	4. First Day's Experience

Summary: When 18 year old Nancy Gale arrived into the isolated town of Blackwood, she never expected to be reacquainted with an old and mysterious friend that she had long since forgotten. As Nancy stays longer in the town, she starts to realize that a dark and frightening secret is being kept, followed by a threatening creature that she had once encountered years ago. Can Nancy and her new friends uncover the secret and stop the evil that threatens to take over the town? Read to find out! Also ratings may change later.

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Chapter 3: First Day's Experience

**Next Day,**

Nancy woke up, all refreshed and ready to face the rest of the morning. Last night, after the series of welcoming committees throughout the day, she stayed up until late unpacking her belongings and arranging them around the house whilst making a list of things that she would need to refurbish her room. Although she liked her old drawings, she'd rather have something more her style than something plain and child-like. After everything she had to do last night, it left her completely exhausted! Fortunately, some of her gifts that she received yesterday were cooked meals so she didn't have to prepare anything for her dinner. Out of all the gifts she received, her favorite had to be Mrs Harper's cinnamon pie. Honestly, it almost brought tears to her eyes.

After getting dressed and having some breakfast, she then got out her rollerblades as well as a pair of sneakers, put the rollerblades on her feet, then casually glided off down the streets of the town. With the warm breeze and the flat roads, it made the excursion more pleasant and exciting for her. People in the town either stared or said 'good morning' to her while the kids watched her rollerblading with interest. Apparently it wasn't common for people to rollerblade around the area.

It wasn't long till Nancy finally found the home improvement store, which was a mile and a half from her house. Even the grocery store was only a few steps away from the place, so it meant that her task of the day was going to be easier. So when she just got to the outside of the building, Nancy briskly swapped the rollerblades with the sneakers before entering the store, only to receive a warm welcoming from the store manager, much to her discontent. It wasn't as bad as yesterday, however this guy seemed to be constantly offering her great deals on things that she didn't even want, as well as giving her different brands of the same item for her to choose from. In fact it was quite excessive, in her opinion. She was in fact relieved to finally get out of the store after that uncomfortable scenario, praying that she would never have to set foot there again!

After spending half an hour of getting some grocery goods, seeing that it was too dangerous for her to have the rollerblades back on with all the shopping bags, she decided to walk. However, with the large amount of stuff that she was carrying, it made the walking part for her difficult. It was this point that she wished that her car wasn't still in the repair shop, which she made a mental note of collecting as soon as she dumped her shopping back at the house.

As she neared towards her house, she came across a group of boys, ganging up on a smaller boy whose back was against the lamp post, with some books scattered on the floor. When she got close enough, she recognized that the person was Benjamin, Mrs Harper's youngest son, looking scared and helpless while the older boys teased and tormented the poor boy. Narrowing her eyes, she marched over to the group, placed her shopping on the ground then grabbed two of the boys by the ear and pulled _really_ hard, her nails digging into their earlobes, causing them to howl in pain whilst alerting the others.

"Hello boys, I hope you lot aren't being a pest to my good neighbor Ben here," Nancy said, her tone low and threatening, still holding onto the ears. If there was one thing she hated more that over-bearing busybodies, it was bullies.

The remaining boys, whose ears weren't being pulled, backed away from her in fear. "N-n-no miss! We're just uh...just 'chatting' to our buddy here!" One of the bullies falsely explained, smiling nervously.

Nancy wasn't buying it, nevertheless wasn't feeling up to teaching them a lesson. "Well then, perhaps now is the time for you lot to run off while me and Ben here head back to our place. Unless of course you want me to escort you to your parents and explain to them **_exactly_** what you've been doing," she then said, letting the two boys go in the process.

Understanding Nancy's meaning, the group of boys quickly dashed off like ill-behaved puppies with their tails between their legs. In a way, the scene was quite amusing. Satisfied of their hasty departure, Nancy then drew her attention to Benjamin, who was now trying to gather up his belongings.

"Are you alright there Ben?" she asked as she kneeled down and picked up a book next to her before handing it to Benjamin.

"I'm alright now. Thanks for standing up for me," Ben said, taking the book from Nancy's hand before he continued to gather the rest.

"No problem, besides it looked as if those guys needed to be taught a lesson." As she picked up the second book, she noticed that it said 'Supernatural Tales' on the front cover. As she looked at all the others, she then noticed that they all were about ghost tales and monster cultures. There was even a book about Myths and Legends. "I see that you have a great interest in the supernatural."

Benjamin looked nervous. "Well...y-yeah. I know its sort of...eccentric for a kid like me to like these stories. My mom always tells me that."

"Well I have nothing against the supernatural. In fact, I have a huge interest in them as well," Nancy explained with a smile.

Well, that certainly brightened Ben's day. "Really?! Then...have you read some of these books?"

"Of course, I have actually read most of them. From 'English Fairy tales and Legends' to 'Mythology of the World'." Once all of the books were collected, Nancy stood up and collected the shopping that she had put down. "Come on, I'll walk you back to your place before I get on with other things."

With a quick acknowledgement from Ben, the two walked back to their neighborhood side by side, discussing what mythical creatures they had or had not heard about. In some ways, it was nice for Benjamin to have someone to talk to, someone who had the same interest as he had.

"...And have you ever heard about the Chupacabras?" Ben continued asking, all excited.

"Yes I have, not my favorite however its still an interesting creature to hear about. I rather prefer the Lock Ness Monster, the fairy spirit known as the Kelpie, and the Mothman," Nancy admitted. "In fact, all the tales of demons, ghosts and monsters are so cool to read about, much less watch films of people witnessing these creatures."

"They're cool as well, however I have some skepticism about the people that are convinced that they saw them. I find them to be just speculations, since there don't have any solid proof, or that the proofs that they provide aren't well focused enough for us to see clearly," Ben explained in a much intellectual way, very unlike a ten ear old.

"Wow, good use of vocabulary for a kid your age," Nancy stated, amazed by the boy's intelligence. "But still, its fun to hear about all these tales, even if you don't believe that they actually exist. Besides, I read about every monster that I have ever heard of, and have never gotten bored from hearing them again!"

"What about the Der Ritter? Have you ever heard of that one?" he then asked.

Hearing the name got Nancy's attention, for she had never heard of it before. "What's a Der Ritter? An animal-like creature or a demon?"

"Well I suppose he's like a demon. Der Ritter is another name for this being, who is often called Slenderman. He's this supernatural creature that supposedly has the appearance of a normal human being in a suit but is really tall with these extra limbs that looks like an octopus's tentacles," Ben began to explain. "They say he kidnaps children and kills teens and grown-up, although i don't really know if that's true. You should look it up on the internet if you want to find out more about him."

"Wait a minute, did you say tall humanoid creature in a suit with tentacles?!" Nancy asked, looking surprised.

"Yeah I did...why?" he asked.

Nancy was stunned. This Slenderman..it reminded her of the old image that she had drawn on the wall. Was that what it was called. And if so, why had she drawn it years ago when she only just heard about it? Still, she didn't want to jump to any sort of conclusions until she was absolutely sure. "Uh...no particular reason. Anyways, we're here now," she quickly changed the subject.

Sure enough, Benjamin saw that they were just across the street from their homes. "Oh...right. Well I guess I better go now." he said, looking sad, for he was having fun talking to someone who didn't seem to care that he was strange.

Seeing his sad expression, Nancy sighed and playfully tousled his hair. "Oh come on, it's not like you won't be seeing me again. Besides, you're always welcome to come over to my place if you're feeling lonely. Just make sure to let me know before-hand as well as to tell your mom or your brother where you'll be going for the day.

"REALLY?!" he exclaimed, his face lightened up brighter than ever.

"Sure, I've got nothing better to do besides redecorating my room and possibly find a part time job," she explained before continuing. "And also, if those boys ever try to bully you again, you can come to me and I'll straighten them out _**my**_ way."

"I will! Thanks Nancy! See you later!" Ben said. He then rushed back home with high spirits.

As soon as she saw the young boy enter his home safely, Nancy walked back to her own place, where she placed the decorating equipment in the living room while placing the groceries in the kitchen. She then looked at the time, saw that it was now quarter to two, and decided that now was the best time to go over there and collect her car before doing anything else. So after eating an energy bar to keep her going, once again she collected her sneaker, put her rollerblades back on outside of the house before gliding down the roads once again, this time towards the repair shop.

As she glided along the road, she thought she caught a glimpse of something amongst the trees, forcing herself to apply the braking foot down to get a better look. But when she did look back, there was nothing there. It could've been her imagination, but she thought that she saw a man in a black suit. In fact, it looked almost like that creature that Benjamin had described to her about, this so-called 'Slenderman'. After a minute of staring at the trees for anything unusual, she finally shrugged it off, thinking it was her overactive imagination playing tricks on her as they had often done, before continuing down the road. Meanwhile, unnoticed to her or to anyone else that came by, a long pale claw-like hand slowly curled around a tree, with a tall dark creature with no visible features attached to the hand, hiding behind the trees, whilst staring towards Nancy's disappearing figure.

* * *

Another chapter over and done with, this time showing the next main character; ten year old Benjamin Harper. I think the next chapter will be more interesting, plus there is a good chance that Slender man will make his actual appearance to the main characters at last. Hope you enjoy reading and please review if you like it.


	5. Trouble Begins

Summary: When 18 year old Nancy Gale arrived into the isolated town of Blackwood, she never expected to be reacquainted with an old and mysterious friend that she had long since forgotten. As Nancy stays longer in the town, she starts to realize that a dark and frightening secret is being kept, followed by a threatening creature that she had once encountered years ago. Can Nancy and her new friends uncover the secret and stop the evil that threatens to take over the town? Read to find out! Also ratings may change later.

* * *

Chapter 4: Trouble Begins

"Phew! Man is this a lot of work!" Nancy exclaimed, sitting on the floor of her room with a paintbrush in her hand and a bucket of dark magenta paint. She had been in Blackwood for almost two days now, and she still hadn't finished painting her room. She tried to do some of it yesterday after getting her car from the repair shop, but by the time she did the ceiling and half of one wall, it was already eight in the evening! Then today she spent the morning researching about 'Slender Man', even though she knew that she had better things to do.

She never realized how popular this creature was on the internet, for there were quite a lot of sites that explained who or what he was as well as what he does. There was even some footage on youtube called Marble Hornets, which was apparently a Slenderman-based series which was about a group of teens, starring a boy named Alex, and their search and their encounter with Slenderman. Although some clips were confusing, Nancy could tell that their encounter with this creature seemed to leave them either mentally damaged or ill. Also, it looked as if some of the members mysteriously disappeared from the film, suggesting that they were kidnapped or killed.

By the time she'd gone through half of the video clips, she realized that she had wasted a whole morning on the computer when she should have been painting the rest of her room! She had to mentally slap herself for being such a ditz!

Now it was nearly six thirty in the evening, and with only one more wall left to be done, Nancy was practically exhausted. "Oh well, looks like I'll have to sleep on the couch again," she said as she slowly forced herself to stand up and leave the room, dragging herself town to the kitchen for some dinner. After skipping lunch, she was now so hungry that she could eat a cow!

After she finished eating what was left of the cooked meals, she decided to have nice hot bath before turning in for the night, hoping to wake up early in the morning to finish up her room. Besides, the sooner she did so, the sooner she could start job hunting. After all, she needed to at least make some sort of living if she was going to stay about, even if it was for just a short while.

Though just when Nancy had made herself a bath, she suddenly heard loud banging sounds coming from her front door, always repeating every minute. That caught Nancy by surprise. Apart from the first night that she arrived, when she had the neighbors welcoming her to the town, no one had ever come to her home, especially around the evening times. As she cautiously got to the living room, the loud bangings continued, this time more desperate.

"Nancy! Nancy are you in there?!" a familiar yet frantic voice called out to her from behind the door.

"Yeah I'm in. Who's there?" Nancy asked, feeling wary yet slowly walked towards the door.

"It's Jake! Ben's brother! We met a couple days ago!"

Nancy sighed with relief. "Oh yeah of course!" she said as she opened the door to find a distraught Jake, holding a flashlight which was shinning onto her face. "Woah! Careful with that flashlight before you accidently blind me!"

"Oh, sorry! But more importantly, have you seen Ben lately?" he asked, turning off the flashlight as he stepped into her home.

Nancy was puzzled. "Ben? No I haven't seen him since yesterday. Why, has something happened?"

"He's missing! I was suppose to be looking after him while mom was out working late except I had some things to take care of," Jake admitted. "I only left him there for about an hour and a half, but when I got home he wasn't there!"

"Well did you call your mother?!" she asked, half worried for Ben and half irritated at Jake for being so irresponsible for leaving his brother alone.

"Yeah and about half the town! They're already searching for him, but so far without much luck! Can you help us find him?! We need all the help we can get!" Jake asked, feeling anxious and hopeful.

"Say no more, I'll help out!" Nancy said as she quickly grabber her hoodie and a flashlight from the coat hanger before following Jake out.

For fifteen minutes, she scouted around the town, searching and calling out Ben's name but to no avail, which puzzled her. How could a small child who by the looks of things has lived in this town his whole life without setting one foot out, suddenly disappear? There was high doubt that he would've been kidnapped and unlikely for him to have run away from home, especially since he had grown fond of Nancy due to the two having similar interests.

"Hey Nancy!" someone called out to her. When she turned to where the voice came from, she saw that it belonged to Karl! "Still no sign of little Benjamin?"

"Hey Karl. I'm afraid not, and I've looked almost everywhere!" Nancy explained. "Although to be perfectly honest, I don't think he's anywhere in this town."

"What makes you think that? " Karl then asked.

Right at that moment, the Mayor came round in his car, calling out Ben's name really loud through the speakers that were built on top. It was in fact so loud, there was a good chance that all the people from San Francisco could hear it!

"Well for one thing, with the Mayor calling out this loud, it wouldn't surprise me if the whole world could hear it," Nancy stated in a deadpan tone while pointing it out.

"I guess you have a point there," Karl began, chuckling slightly before getting serious. "But then where in the world would he have gone off to?!"

"Man, I wish I knew." Just then, Nancy spotted the same group of boys sneaking off behind one of the buildings, all looking nervous but somewhat amused. Seeing them act this way, Nancy knew that they had been u to no good. "Hold on a sec. I might be able to get a clue as to where Ben might be."

She then rushed off after the boys before Karl could ask anymore questions. It didn't take long before she found them huddled up together behind the giant garbage containers, whispering quietly to themselves. Luckily, Nancy was able to hear them.

"Oh man, when the grown-ups find out, we're gonna be in so much trouble!" one of them whispered, looking worried.

"Shut up Harry! It's not our fault that the nerd got himself lost!" another boy, possibly the leader, argued.

"Yeah but we're the ones who forced him into it! I mean, what if something happens to him?!" the one known as Harry asked.

"So? None of us liked him much!" another boy then said.

"But what if someone finds out and tells everyone what we did?!" another boy asked.

"Yeah right, whose gonna find out and tattle on us?!" the leader asked.

"A-hem! That would be me," Nancy said as she stood in front of them, her eyes narrowed as she had them all in corner. At this point, all the boys backed away in fear, huddling close to one another to avoid being near Nancy, making them look like rats caught in a trap. She then grabbed the leader by the back of his collar before putting him in a headlock. "Now then, care to tell me what you did to Ben and where he is now?"

"Why should we tell you anything?!" the leader asked. Instead of responding, she then brought her fist out and started giving him a really strong noogie with her knuckles, causing pain to his head. "Okay, okay! You win! We'll talk!"

Nancy smirked before she got down to business. "Alright, start talking! Now!"

"We didn't do anything to him alright! At least nothing psychical!" the leader explained. "We just convinced him to come out with us, then we dared him to go into the woods where those killings occurred eight years ago! He tried getting out of it, but we told him that if he did, we wouldn't bully him anymore!"

"Are you gonna tell our parents about all this?" one of the boys asked nervously.

"You bet I am! But first things first, I better go into that forest and look for Ben. THEN I'm having a few words with ALL your parents about your behaviors!" She then let go of the leader's head before she started walking off towards the woods.

"But what about the demon that lives there?! Aren't you afraid like the rest of the grown-ups?" the one named Harry asked.

Nancy paused for a moments to turn and look at the group. "'Demon' or not, I'm not just gonna stand here and leave Ben out there on his own! And besides, it's probably just a bear that's living too close. But if I'm not back within the hour, you **better** tell everyone where I went off to or else I will haunt you for the rest of your lives!"

Then without any hesitation, and her flashlight in hand, she rushed off into the dark forest.

* * *

"Ben! Where are you?! Ben, answer me!" Nancy continued to call out every five minutes whilst walking deeper and deeper through the trees. It had been almost half an hour since she stepped foot in this area and already she was feeling nervous. It wasn't because it was extremely dark, for she loved dark places, but it was because of the unnatural silence that seemed to seep throughout the area. In fact, not even the sound of a cricket could be heard!

As she walked further forward, Nancy noticed an empty area where the moonlight shone through, just a few feet away from her, quite possibly a place where Ben might be. Unfortunately when she got towards the clearing, there was still no sign of him. However she did notice that in the clearing, it was filled with assorted wildflowers, most of them closed up for the night. She didn't know why, but she felt that this was once a significant place to her. Like it was once her 'secret garden', a place that only she knew about and nobody else. If only she could remember why!

Just then, she heard faint crying not far from where she was, a child's cry. Knowing that it was most likely Benjamin, she quickly rushed off to where the noises were coming from. "Ben! Ben, can you hear me?!" Nancy called out once more, hoping that this time he would hear it.

"N-n-nancy? Is that you?" a quiet voice suddenly spoke up from behind a large tree that Nancy came across. As soon as she slowly looked round, sure enough, there was Ben, crouched down and huddled close to the tree, his arms wrapped around his legs tightly, with tears trickling down his cheeks.

"There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!" Nancy exclaimed, sighing with relief while crouching down to Ben's eye level. "Don't you know that it's dangerous to be this far from home, especially this late at night?! Both your mom and your brother are worried sick about you!"

Benjamin sniffled, trying hard to hold back the tear that threatened to come again. "I'm sorry...I know I shouldn't have but-!"

"I know, I found out from those boys. I practically had to use force to get them to talk." Nancy then sighed heavily before standing up. "Come on, we better get back to town before they realize that BOTH of us have gone missing."

With a nod of acknowledgement, Ben stood up and held onto Nancy's hands tightly for comfort. She didn't mind, in fact it was probably a good idea. That way she wouldn't have to worry about loosing him as they traveled through this dark maze. As soon as she had him close to her, they both started to walk back out, hoping to get out of the forest and into town as soon as possible and to forget this whole ordeal.

* * *

"Oh great, we're lost!" Benjamin exclaimed, after about ten minutes of walking. They were now at what appeared to be a fork path, and Nancy was scanning through one path from another, hoping to spot something that she could recognize. However, no matter which one she looked, they all seemed exactly the same!

"We're not lost! We're just uh...well...hmmm..." After a minute of pondering, Nancy finally gave up. "Okay, I admit. We're lost. I guess it was stupid of me to not leave a trail of something behind while I went looking for you."

"You mean like a trail of breadcrumbs?" Benjamin asked.

"Nah cause the birds would've eaten them, like they did in the story of Hansel and Gretel," Nancy explained. "Although on the plus side, at least there's nothing in the forest that'll want to eat us."

Though the minute she said that, both heard a loud crack of a tree branch, just a few steps behind them. They froze still, both somewhat afraid to look. Finally, after gathering enough courage, Nancy turned. However, to her relief, there was no one there! Just a Barn Owl up in the trees, hunting for its next meal. Feeling absolutely stupid, Nancy couldn't help but laugh.

It's alright Ben, false alarm! It was just an owl," she reassured the young boy, who turned round as well. As soon as he saw the owl, he laughed along as well.

"Woah, that was scary! Ha-ha! I almost thought that we were in trouble!" he said in between laughs.

"So did I! I can't believe we got scared over a little owl! I mean, how stupid is that!" While they were laughing, neither of them noticed the owl's sudden hasty departure.

After another minute of laughing, both of them finally managed to calm down and catch their breaths. "Alright, fun-time is over. Let's get back to the main problem and find our way outta here," Nancy said.

When they turned round to face the fork path, what they saw next froze them still.

For right in front of them, blocking them from the paths, was a tall pale faceless man that they recognized as Slenderman! He looked exactly as he was described by all the websites that Nancy had read about! He was tall and thin as a tree with skin was as white as snow, wearing a suit that was black as night. The only part of him that had color was his neck tie, which was blood red. Though what caught their eyes more than his faceless expression was the appendages that he had on his back, swaying like cats' tails. Nancy took note that they looked more like tendrils that certain plants had than octopus tentacles. Not only that, but it looked as if the ends of his suit jacket had tendrils, like it was part of his body!

Nancy was stunned. "HOLY CRAP! Isn't that-!? she began, but was too shocked to finish her sentence.

"Uh-huh...," Ben said, already knowing what she was going to say. He couldn't stop shaking with fear when he saw the Slenderman.

"Then that means that all the tales of him are actually-?!" Nancy continued as she stared up at the faceless being, the unnerved feeling of fear coursing through her body like never before, mainly for Benjamin's life rather than her own.

"Y-yeah..," Benjamin quietly replied, this time huddling close to Nancy, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist in fear. "What should we do?!"

"You better run! I'll stall him long enough for you to get a head start! RUN!" She screamed in desperation, pushing him behind her whilst she continued to face the entity. It was at that point that Slenderman started to move.

While Benjamin ran as fast as his little legs could, Nancy took a swing at the Slender Man, who merely blocked her blow before back-handing her hard, sending her flying into a tree, before pursuing after the little boy.

It didn't long for Slenderman to catch up, for he managed to teleport himself in front of Benjamin. Despite Ben's effort of escaping by going in between the entity's legs quite successfully, one of the tendrils caught Ben by his legs, causing him to fall to the ground. As the poor sat up and tried to untangle himself, Slenderman hovered over him like a sinister predator, with his claw-like hands slowly coming down towards Ben.

"HEY YOU! Get your creepy tendrils away from him!" Nancy yelled whilst throwing a heavy tree branch into the slender creature, hitting it square into his back! Although it didn't physically hurt him, he seemed to have felt it, for he instantly lost interest in Ben and now had all of his attention directed towards her!

Nancy noticed that right away. "..Crap! Did _NOT_ think this one through," she stated, surprisingly calm despite the danger that was facing her at this point.

Before she had a chance to react, the Slenderman suddenly came up in front of her, and grabbed her by the neck with his claw-like hands, forcing her down to the floor. Despite her struggles to escape his firm grasp, with every gasps of breath she could muster, Nancy just couldn't break free. In fact, the more she struggled, the stronger his grip had gotten, crushing her windpipe bit by bit. It was now getting harder for her to breath. Her mind started to get light-headed from the lack of air she was receiving. Despite her vision getting fuzzy, she could vaguely see the form of one of Slenderman's tendrils, pointing down at her like a spear. She wondered at this point which was going to kill her; strangulation or impalement. At this point she didn't care. She was already loosing consciousness, and her world was already starting to go black. All she knew, was that it was 'game-over' for her.

As that was happening, Benjamin watched hopelessly at Nancy was starting to go limp and lose conscious whilst Slenderman's tendril got ready to impale her. At this point, he knew that he couldn't just sit there and watch his best, if not only, friend get killed. He had to do something!

"NANCY! WAKE UP!" Ben cried out as loudly as possible while rushing forward, hoping to surprise the Slender Man, if only for a moment.

It was at that moment, that Slenderman suddenly froze still, his pointed tendril almost inches away from Nancy's chest. At first Ben thought that his cries had actually worked, but what he saw next surprised even him!

Slenderman's tendrils retracted away from Nancy's body while he slowly pulled his hands off of her neck. At first Benjamin though she was dead, but then saw that she was breathing, if not faintly. Seeing that Slenderman was momentarily distracted for some reason, Ben cautiously walked over to Nancy's unconscious form and started to try and wake her up, unaware that Nancy was having not only a dream, but regaining some of her forgotten memories...

**_*Flashback*_**

_"..8...9...10! Ready or not, here I come!" a ten year old Nancy called out whilst walking around the woods late at night with a flashlight. She had managed to sneak out of the house while her parents were asleep in their bed in order to play with her new friend, who apparently preferred the nighttime rather than the day. They were now playing their version of 'Hide and Seek', where as she had to find him in the dark using her flashlight in order to find him._

_Although she was good at playing hide-and-seek, it seemed that her friend was better, for it was really hard to find him! But then she remembered that he was pretty tall and therefore could easily disguise himself as a tree. So instead of looking down, she started looking up! And sure enough, among all the other trees, she could see her friend's pale white head._

_"Aha! I see you Slender!" she called out, smiling brightly at the faceless man, who then came out of his hiding spot and picked her up in his arms. She giggled with joy as he lifter her up into the air, happy to have a great friend like him. Although he couldn't show any expressions on his face, Nancy could easily sense that he too was happy._

**_*End of Flashback*_**

"... Nancy! Nancy wake up! Wake up Nancy!" Ben continued to call out as she slowly regained consciousness. Nancy gasped while taking in deep breaths of air. As she propped herself enough to sit up, she first wondered if the whole ordeal from before had been a bad dream. It was only when she noticed the Slenderman in front of her, Ben sitting beside her and the trees that surrounded them, did she realize that it was not a dream.

As she looked at the Slenderman, who in return stared back, she wondered whether or not... she'd actually _known_ him from years ago, or if it that was also part of her dream. Before she had a chance to process everything that had happened, to both Ben and her surprise, the Slenderman _spoke_!

_'Nancy? Nancy Gale? Is-is that really you?!'_

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Phew! Another chapter up and ready! An incredibly long one! Only this time, Slender Man actually makes an appearance! WooHoo! And yes, I know Nancy's reaction to after throwing the branch is kinda dumb, but I hate to say this, that is one of my few common traits whenever I am faced with a problem...mainly cause I have a laid-back side. Plus it actually adds some humor to the piece which I like. Although I thinks some parts of the scene could have done better, I'm still pleased with it.

Anyways, hope you enjoy reading this as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

By the way, is Slender man one or two words, I'm a little confused.


	6. We've Got a lot of Explaining to Do

Summary: When 18 year old Nancy Gale arrived into the isolated town of Blackwood, she never expected to be reacquainted with an old and mysterious friend that she had long since forgotten. As Nancy stays longer in the town, she starts to realize that a dark and frightening secret is being kept, followed by a threatening creature that she had once encountered years ago. Can Nancy and her new friends uncover the secret and stop the evil that threatens to take over the town? Read to find out! Also ratings may change later.

Okay, so last time I left this in a cliffhanger or some sorts...although I wouldn't really call it a cliffhanger. Just...a chapter that may or may have not left you with a lot of questions.

* * *

Previously...

As she looked at the Slenderman, who in return stared back, she wondered whether or not... she'd actually _known_ him from years ago, or if it that was also part of her dream. Before she had a chance to process everything that had happened, to both Ben and her surprise, the Slenderman _spoke_!

_'Nancy? Nancy Gale? Is-is that really you?!'_

* * *

Chapter 5: We've Got a lot of explaining to Do

Nancy stared at the entity, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. "..Did you just talk?!" she asked, her voice quiet and raspy while trying to stand up. After been nearly strangled, the incident left her with a red claw mark all around her neck and a sore throat, which caused her some pain when talking, and weak. Benjamin, who was staring at the Slenderman with shock, and perhaps in awe, grabbed Nancy's arm and helped her up, both of them never taking their eyes off of the Slenderman.

_'...You do not remember me, do you?'_ the Slenderman asked, sounding somewhat disappointed.

Nancy look at him with confusion, one of her eyebrows raised to state her confusion. "Uh...no. Why, should I have?"

Slenderman didn't respond. Instead he leaned forward, his arm extending towards Nancy. Although a part of her, the common sense part, was telling her to keep away, the other part of her was telling her to stay put, and that nothing bad was going to happen. Ben on the other-hand just went behind her, fear evident in his wide eyes as he watched the extending arm getting closer and closer. Slowly but surely, Slenderman's hand had reached just across Nancy face, his claw-like fingers brushing against her hair, before he began to bring it closer to caress her cheeks.

"Nancy! Benjamin! Are you in here!?"

The sudden outburst cause all three of them to stop and look to where the voice was coming from. Sure enough, several feet away from them, they could see flashlights skimming through the trees whilst the trees rustled. Slender, who had already removed his hand from Nancy's face, quickly stood up and dashed off further in the dark woods, leaving the two standing in the path, bewildered by what they had just witnessed.

"Nancy! Ben! Can you hear us?!"

They turned round to see Jake coming out into the clearing of the path, looking around frantically. "We're over here!" Ben cried out since Nancy's throat was still sore.

Hearing Ben's cries, Jake immediately looked round, spotted the two, and immediately rushed over to them. Some of the townspeople, that which included Old Man Phil, also made an appearance as they rushed over. Even the mayor, with his trusted bodyguard Hamilton, had surprisingly decided to venture into the

Jake ran over to Ben and grabbed him in some sort of bear hug. "Thank God you're alright! What the hell were doing out here?! I thought I told you to stay in the house while both mom and I were out and to stay put!"

"Sorry Jake, I didn't want to go out here but-!" Ben began, looking upset.

"Except some group of bullies forced him into some dare," Nancy explained, butting into the conversation. "I found out about it and forced them into telling me where he was before coming into the woods myself."

"Then why the fucking hell did you not tell the rest of us about it?!" Jake asked, looking annoyed.

Before Nancy had the chance to explain, Karl and Mrs. Harper suddenly came into view. Mrs. Harper, who saw Benjamin in Jake's arms, quickly rushed over and pulled her young son into her arms in full embrace, tears of joy pouring out of her eyes. "Oh my baby! Thank goodness you're alright! You almost gave your dear mother a heart attack!"

"I'm sorry mom."

"What were you doing in the woods anyways? Don't you know that it's dangerous to wonder around here this late at night?" Karl asked.

"Well you can blame that on a certain group of bullies for this mess," Nancy intervened as she calmly explained to the adults. "They forced him to go into the woods, only to leave him there and not tell us about it. Luckily, I overheard their conversation and forced them to tell me, then I ventured into the woods myself to look for him. Although I probably should've told you about all this before I went off in the first place. At the time I was mostly concerned with finding Ben in case something happened, then get ourselves out of the woods as soon as possible."

"Yeah, only for the **_BOTH_** of us to get lost," Ben then added.

Nancy then gave a deadpanned look. "Hey I'm pretty sure I would've found an exit out of here... eventually," she said before wincing in pain.

Phil, who stood only two feet away, saw her wincing before noticing her neck. "Dear _God_ Missy! What happened to your neck?!" he exclaimed, pointing at the clawed-hand marking, now already starting to bruise.

Everyone else turned to where Phil was looking. They all gasped in horror when they saw the marks.

"Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that something came and attacked us, tried to strangle me, only for whatever it was to take off? Dunno what it was, all I know is that it wasn't human," Nancy explained, purposely leaving out what it actually was, for there was still the mystery behind her forgotten past that she believed the Slenderman himself could answer.

"So...I was right all along. The demon of Blackwood is still living in these woods!" Phil announced, causing some of the townspeople to murmur or cry out in fear.

"Oh come on now Phil, I'm sure it's wasn't the monster that attacked this town's children eight years ago. After all, if it was that very same monster, then how is it that these two managed to survive and in one piece?" Karl asked, skeptical about it.

"Well Nancy did actually fight that thing," Ben suddenly spoke up after being quite. "In fact, she saved me just when it tried to get me!"

Well, that certain everyone's attention. "Wait, is that true Nancy?!" Karl asked.

"Uh... Well I wouldn't say I was all that successful. All I could do was try and land a couple of blows and hit it with a tree branch," she explained.

"Is that so?!" Mayor Thompson suddenly said, walking up towards Nancy with that creepy smile plastered on his face once again. "Well then, that means that not only are you our welcomed visitor to our town, but also our hero!" That brought out a wave of agreement between the townspeople.

This made Nancy feel uncomfortable. "Well I wouldn't say hero really, I mean-"

"Nonsense! Not only did you bravely stepped into this forest without anyone else to accompany you, but also stood up against the demon itself when it tried to attack you both!" he then stated. "Not many brave people would've done what you did tonight. And that is what makes you a hero!"

As soon as the Mayor's speech ended, some of the people applauded with high spirits while others nodded or murmured in agreement whilst cheering Nancy for her bravery. This scene that laid before Nancy left her even more uncomfortable, for she was not use to having this much attention. She just wished that they wouldn't make such a big deal out of it.

After a few more minutes of that, everyone decided to get out of the forest as soon as possible and go back home now that both Benjamin and Nancy had been found. She couldn't agree more, for after that near-death experience, she had had enough adventures for one day and wanted to relax. As for the group of bullies that were responsible for Ben's disappearance, Nancy immediately told their parents, who then assured her that their boys would be rightfully punished for their careless joke.

"Well I should go back home and get some rest. I'm exhausted after all that 'excitement' that we've just had," Nancy explained once they were all out of the forest.

"Oh why don't you come over to our home and make you some tea? After all, it's the least I can do for finding my son _and_ saving his life," Mrs Harper insisted.

"Oh no, I'm perfectly fine Mrs Harper really! You don't have to make me any tea."

"I can also offer you some cinnamon pie to go with your tea if you want."

That got Nancy's attention. "...I suppose one slice of your home-made pie wouldn't hurt."

"Ooooh! Cake does sound good!" Jake said.

"You young man aren't having any desert!" Mrs Harper scolded her eldest son.

"What?! But why?!" he exclaimed.

"I left Benjamin in your care. You were suppose to stay in the house with him! And yet you went off doing lord knows what, leaving him all by himself!" Mrs Harper said, angry at Jake for his reckless behavior before calming down, remembering that Nancy was still there. "We'll discuss more about your punishments later."

While the Harper family welcomed Nancy into their home for some tea and pie, and the rest of the town walking back to their homes, the Slenderman, who had slowly followed from a great distance, briefly stared out into the town from behind the trees before slinking back into the forest once again.

* * *

Another chapter, shorter than the last, and with a bit of swearing going on. Hopefully this chapter isn't too boring for you readers. Anyways, I hope you enjoy reading this. And please review if possible.


	7. New Job

Summary: When 18 year old Nancy Gale arrived into the isolated town of Blackwood, she never expected to be reacquainted with an old and mysterious friend that she had long since forgotten. As Nancy stays longer in the town, she starts to realize that a dark and frightening secret is being kept, followed by a threatening creature that she had once encountered years ago. Can Nancy and her new friends uncover the secret and stop the evil that threatens to take over the town? Read to find out! Also ratings may change later.

* * *

Chapter 6: New Job

"Ooooooergh...maybe eating three cinnamon pie slices plus ice cream _and_ whipped cream last night wasn't such as good idea," Nancy remarked as she slowly got up from her sofa, looking somewhat green and sickly. Although she loved having sweets, she tended to forget that eating too much of them always made her stomach churn later.

Last night, after that unexpected encounter with the Slenderman, a creature which she had thought was nonexistent, Mrs Harper had invited her over for some tea and pie as a way of thanking her for finding and rescuing her son Benjamin. While there, Nancy ended up briefly witnessing an argument between Mrs Harper and her eldest son Jake about his lack of responsibility. He must've gotten pretty upset afterwards, since he marched off straight to his room, slamming his door in the process, leaving the remaining three in an awkward silence. However the mood did lighten up a few minutes later. Unfortunately, after an hour of eating and chatting, Nancy had to go back home to get some sleep.

Now, in the early hours of the morning, she ended up waking up with a _massive_ stomach ache caused by overindulgence. Luckily for her, she had some sodium bicarbonate and antacid tablets in the bathroom cabinet so she immediately went to the bathroom, got the tablets and took some with a glass of milk, hoping that she'll recover soon. And just for safety measures, she fixed herself a hot pack to place it on her stomach, hoping to calm it down faster.

Fortunately, after taking a half hour nap, the upset stomach was slowly going away. But that didn't mean she was fully recovered, she decided not to eat anything just yet until her stomach really settled down.

So after getting dressed, Nancy decided to go out for a bit, just to get some fresh air before doing anything else. Not wanting to go out without something to do, she then rummaged through her stuff, looking her iphone. As she managed to find her iphone plus some headphones, she also discovered her old yo-yo that she used to play with in her teen years. Not exactly the most exciting item to play with however if you know most of the yo-yo tricks, like Nancy did, it becomes quite an entertaining little toy.

"Well, I suppose I could play with this for a little while," she muttered, handling the yo-yo. She then walked out of the house, listening to 'fallen angels' by Black Veil Brides while performing some yo-yo tricks like 'walk the tightrope' and 'thread the needle'.

"Hey Nancy!"

She turned round to see a very bubbly Benjamin, running up to her. "Well hey there Ben. What's got you all so cheerful?"

"Nothing really, besides hearing what punishments those bullies are gonna be getting from their parents," Ben began. "Grounded for a month, PLUS they have to do extra chores at their house as well as in school!"

"Well, that is good news! Finally those boys are gonna get their just deserves. especially after what happened last night." Nancy put away her iphone and yo-yo into the pocket her hoodie. " And your brother?"

"Well he is somewhat grounded, however I doubt he'll obey curfew time. He never does. But that means that he won't be in charge of looking after me," Ben explained, looking sad. "You know, he never used to be like that. He always used to play with me, be the best friend that I could ever have! I always felt lucky to have a brother like him. But ever since dad died and mom had to work harder than she used to, he's been acting all secretive. And yet he still spends more time with his friends than he does with me."

"Oh I'm sure he still cares about you, and your mother. He's probably just going through some rebellious phase," Nancy assured him. "Anyways, so whose gonna be looking after you while your mom is out working?"

"Dunno. She's still trying to find someone who can look after me while she goes off to work later tonight," Ben explained. "And she definitely doesn't want to leave me alone at home in case I end up in the woods again."

"And how's that coming along?"

"Not so good. If she doesn't find someone to look after me tonight, she'll be forced to work extra hours tomorrow. Maybe even for a whole day." It was then that Ben had an idea. "Hey Nancy, why don't _you _look after me?"

"You mean baby-sit you? Gee I dunno..." she began, slightly hesitant.

"Aww please! We have so much fun together and mom really likes you!" he explained. "Also, you don't have to look after me at my house! I can always stay at yours until mom picks me up, or I can sleep over!"

Nancy still remained hesitant. "Well..."

"Please~?!" Benjamin begged, giving her his puppy-eyed looks.

"...Oh alright. I'll take the babysitting job," Nancy finally agreed, unable to resist Ben's looks.

"Yay! Thanks Nancy! You're the best!" he said, giving her a great big hug before grabbing her hand and started dragging her towards his house. "Now come on! Let's go and tell my mom that!"

"Alright, alright I'm coming." She then turned to look at Ben. "Then after that has been arranged, I'll ask her if you can come over to my house for a brief moment."

"Cool! Are we gonna do something exciting?" Ben asked excitedly.

"Yes we are. We're gonna put on some aprons and each have a paint brush in our hands."

"... We're gonna do some arts and crafts?"

"Nope. We'll be painting and decorating my room," Nancy said with a smirk before walking into the house, leaving Ben standing there looking puzzled before frowning, stomping after Nancy.

* * *

"So... what should we do tonight then since Mom will be working really late tonight and Jake will be... doing something that we don't know?" Benjamin asked as they finished painting the final wall of Nancy's room. Although he enjoyed spending time with someone he considered a friend, he didn't enjoy room decorating at all!

"I'm glad you asked. Well I did have three or four things in my mind that we could do. One of which might be too risky on doing however," Nancy explained, putting her painbrush down.

"And what ideas are those?"

"Well, we can watch a movie while eating whatever junk food you want, or we could look for some creepy stories on the internet and watch a few youtube videos," she began. "Or... we could go back out to the woods again to find that 'Slenderman' again."

Ben immediately stopped on what he was doing. "What?! Are you crazy!? Why would we go back there when the guy almost tried to kill us?!

"Well more out of curiosity than anything. I mean, he had the chance to kill us but he didn't. In fact, he acted as if he knew me!" Nancy tried to explain, with some difficulty.

"Well he definitely knew your last name, that's for sure," Ben noted, remembering that night.

'Well I just wanna know how he knows me. In fact, he might be able to help shed some light on how I got my amnesia! After all, he **_does_** have the ability to make people to forget right?" she asked, taking Ben's brush and placing it down next to hers before taking off her apron.

"Yeah I suppose he does, that is if you had suffered the case of the 'slender sickness'," he explained while taking the apron off of himself. "But even so, I don't think mom or my brother would like that."

"Well... then lets not tell them. It'll be our little secret," Nancy said. "Of course if you don't want to do this then I totally understand..."

"No way would I back down on something _this_ cool! I wanna go out and find Slenderman too!"

Nancy smiled. "Alright then! It's settled! Tonight you come to my house, then once we're sure that your mom has gone off to work, then we'll go into the woods and look for Slenderman!"

* * *

Okay, not one of my best chapters, but I was sort of anxious to come up with something that would help continue with this story. Anyways, the next chapter will have Slenderman definitely. And might make a little more sense...hopefully. So please read and review, and hope that you enjoy reading this.


	8. Old friends Remembered and Reunited

Summary: When 18 year old Nancy Gale arrived into the isolated town of Blackwood, she never expected to be reacquainted with an old and mysterious friend that she had long since forgotten. As Nancy stays longer in the town, she starts to realize that a dark and frightening secret is being kept, followed by a threatening creature that she had once encountered years ago. Can Nancy and her new friends uncover the secret and stop the evil that threatens to take over the town? Read to find out! Also ratings may change later.

* * *

Chapter 7: Old friends Remembered and Reunited

_Some time around five thirty p.m..._

"Once again, thank you so much for willing to look after Benjamin for me," Mrs Harper said for the forth time while her son settles down on Nancy's sofa, reading a book called '101 Amazing Slenderman Facts'.

"No problem at all Mrs Harper. Like I said, I'm sure we'll have a great time together," Nancy said. "In fact, we'll probably have so much fun that time will pass by so quickly."

"Good to here that. If you have any problems, just call me at the diner. And I will call you as soon as I have finished," Mrs Harper explained while giving her the number as well as a large biscuit tin. "Also, here's some more of my homemade cinnamon pie, just as I promised."

"Thanks!" Nancy said as she took the tin.

"Well I better get myself over there. Bye Sweetie! Behave, and don't give Nancy any trouble," Mrs Harper told her son while kissing Benjamin on the forehead, causing him to blush out of embarrassment. After saying her final byes to the two, she finally rushed off to the diner.

"Phew! I thought she would never leave!" Nancy exclaimed while going to the closet, bringing out her backpack. "Love your mom and everything, but she does **_love_** to talk a lot!"

"You think that's bad, she makes me feel like I'm four even though I'm eight!" Ben explained before glaring at Nancy. "And I can't believe you got mom to make you more cinnamon pie!"

"Well she did say she was struggling for cash, but she offered to make whatever food I wanted as payment," she explained. "Oh speaking of food, your mom invited me over to dinner on Saturday."

"Really? Cool!" he then noticed Nancy packing some stuff into her backpack. "What are you packing exactly?"

"Things that we may need when we go out looking for the Slenderman," she explained while putting in two bottles of water, a container filled with sandwiches, a camera and two flashlights. She then brought out a bum bag and put in her iphone and a pocket knife.

"Why are you bringing a pocket knife with you?" Ben asked. "I'm pretty sure that if a tree branch didn't affect him, a knife like that won't do much either!"

Nancy roller her eyes. "I know that! I'm bringing a pocket knife so I can make marks on some of the trees, so we won't get ourselves lost."

"Okay, but Nancy! What if my mom calls while we're still out in the forest?!"

"I've already thought of that." She then pulled out her iphone. "I programed the phones here so that any calls made at this house will be forwarded to my iphone. That way, your mom will never suspect that we've gone out."

"...Your just as sneaky as my brother," Ben said in a deadpan tone.

"Yes but unlike him, I'm not leaving you alone in the house, I'm taking you with me!" Nancy reasoned. "So yes I am sneaking out, but at the same time I'm looking after you! So in a way, I'm still doing my job as a babysitter."

"Yeah, but with a twist to it."

"...Alright yes, I admit! With a twist!" She then grabbed the backpack and put over her shoulder. "Now come on, let's go out and begin our hunt!"

As soon as Benjamin got off the sofa, bringing his book with him, they both got out through the back door of the house before walking towards the forest. Nancy then brought out the two flashlights from her bag, gave one to Ben, then turned hers on and shined it through the dark trees. With the Slenderman still not in their sight, Nancy then slowly entered the forest, with Benjamin following close behind.

* * *

_One hour later,_

"For God's sakes, where the hell is Slenderman?!" Nancy cried out, already loosing patience as she once again make a mark, which was in a shape of a pentagram, on another tree. They were now at the other-side of small field of flowers that they had come across last night, and were now tired and hungry.

"He could be just wary of us. Or he could be eating his 'dinner'," Ben suggested. Suddenly his stomach growled loudly. "Speaking of dinner, can I have some of those sandwiches that you brought with you? I'm getting hungry."

"Yeah sure, might be a good idea to have a break anyways." The two walked over to a fallen tree where they sat down. Nancy then took out the container of sanwiches. "Hope you like grilled cheese and ham, BLT or PB&J sandwiches. They were the easiest ones to make."

Ben took a cheese and ham sandwich from the container and started eating it. "Hey...what if we don't find Slenderman tonight? I mean, he might have left the forest and gone somewhere else," Ben then suggested.

"Well we'll come back here again tomorrow night, or at least I will. Dunno if your mom will want me to babysit tomorrow," Nancy explained as she took a bite out of a BLT sandwich. "As for your suggestion about him leaving the forest, that I am sure you're wrong. Remember, if he was around these parts when I was here eight years ago, then there's a possibility that he still remained after that incident with the children that were killed by something."

"Well he is known to either kidnap or kill kids, maybe he was the one that was responsible for those killings," Ben suggested.

"I don't think so. You see, if he supposedly kills every children that crosses his path, then how is it that I am still alive?" she asked. "Also, he _knew_ my name! Meaning that either he is a superb mind-reader, **_or_** it's because he knows me! And strangely enough...I might've actually known him."

"Or you could've been a victim that he was once stalking, only to escape his terrifying grasp!"

Nancy folded her arm whilst frowning at Ben. "You know...you can be a **_real_** downer at times."

"I'm just being realistic here. But I'll tell you this much, if this was a TV series, you'd be a female version of 'Dean' from 'Supernatural' while I'm your brother-and-partner 'Sam'!" Ben stated.

"...That is absolutely true! Well then 'Sammy', lets get ourselves ready to search for the Slenderman again before we go back home and have some pie," Nancy then said before packing up the sandwiches.

Ben sighed before reaching for his book, only to find it no longer where he left it. "Uh Nancy, where's my Slenderman book?"

"Didn't you have it right next to you?"

"Yeah but it's not there anymore!" Ben starts looking around him. "I think the wind blew it away somewhere."

Just then, he felt a tap on his right shoulder. When he turned slightly, he saw his book extended towards him. "Yay, you found my book! Thanks Nancy!" he said, taking the book.

"Uh Ben... what are you talking about?" Nancy asked, a couple feet away on the left side of Ben.

That confused Ben. If she was over there, then who was it right next to him? When he turned round, his blood suddenly ran cold.

It was the Slenderman, appearing exactly as he did from their first encounter. Unable to contain the fear in him, Ben quickly rushed over to Nancy and hid behind her, his head peaking out to see what would happen next. So far, the Slenderman remained still, seemingly staring at the two.

Nancy was caught by surprise but remained calm all the same. "Well... instead of finding Slenderman, he found us," she stated. She then started to walk up to the Slenderman.

Benjamin whimpered but nevertheless followed closely behind. Although he was fascinated with this faceless entity, he was also terrified by what the entity might've been capable of.

As the pair stood in front of the Slenderman, neither of them turning their gazes away, the Slenderman bent down to Nancy's height and continued to stare at her. It was somewhat strange, for even without physical eyes, it was like the entity's faceless features was staring deep into her soul.

Ignoring the uncomfortable stares, Nancy decided that now was the time to get some answers. "You know me, don't you?"

The Slenderman nodded in response.

"I need to know, what was my relation to you all those years ago?"

Instead of answering her question, the Slenderman raised one of his tendrils up towards Nancy's face, causing her to back away. The Slenderman grabbed both her arms firmly yet gently with his claw-like hands, forcing her to stand still as the tendril drew in closer. Benjamin, despite his fear increasing by the minute, continued to stay close. The minute that black tendril touched her forehead, an unknown force had suddenly clouded her mind, impairing her vision. Soon as she began to drift off, a new image appeared in her mind...

**_*Memory Flashback*_**

_"Hi there! My name's Nancy. What's your name?" a ten year old Nancy asked, still smiling whilst holding out the flower to the Slenderman._

_The Slenderman stared, puzzled by her reaction. '_**_You are not afraid of me?'_**_ he asked, his voice deep and unearthly._

_Nancy tilted her head, confused by the question. "Why would I be afraid of you?"_

**_'Many who have seen my features often back away in fear. Even the bravest of men are afraid of me,'_**_ the Slenderman responded to her question._

_Nancy frowned. "That's stupid! Just because someone looks different doesn't mean they're dangerous! My mom always tells me that you can never judge someone just by their appearance. Only by their personality." She then smiled again. "So mister, do you have a name?"_

_The Slenderman remained silent for a moment before he finally responded. _**_'I am known as the Slenderman'_**

_"Slenderman...huh..." she pondered that name through her mind. "...How about I call you 'Slender' for short?"_

_Slenderman thought it through before nodding. _**_'That name I can allow,'_**_ he said, making the little girl smile even wider._

_'_**_You are new to this town, aren't you?'_**_ Slenderman then asked, for he never seen this young girl before._

_Nancy nodded. "Yeah, my parents and I only arrived here just three days ago. We move a lot because of their work," she explained as she had her head down, looking sad._

_Slenderman noticed her sad expression. _**_'What's wrong little one?'_**

_"It's just that, with my parents moving from one place to another, I never have the chance to make any friends. In the end, I always end up having no friends at all. In fact, I haven't even tried to make friends with any of the kids in the neighborhood. After all, it won't be long before we have to leave again." she explained. Just then, and idea came into her head. "Hey Slender, would you like to be friends with me?"_

**_'ME?!'_**

_"Well neither of us have any friends, and we've already got to know a bit about each other," Nancy explained, looking hopefully. "Plus you seem like a really nice guy! I would totally want you as a friend!"_

_If Slenderman had a face, he would would have had a really surprised look. No one had ever referred to him as a 'nice guy' before. And many humans that had crossed his path, often screamed and ran for their lives. And those who did, frequently had their lives cut short by his hands. Though after coming across this sweet young girl, whose heart was as pure as an angel's, he didn't have the heart to end her life._

_**'...Very well then, I will be your friend,'** Slenderman agreed after much debate._

_"Really?! Hooray!" Nancy cried out, jumping up and down with excitement before leaping up to the Slenderman, hugging him around his waist._

**_'HOWEVER, there are some rules that you must follow when coming to this forest to see me,'_**_ Slenderman explained, his tone suddenly becoming more serious and firm. Since it was rare for a creature such as himself to become friends with a human, he couldn't afford to take this risk without being cautious._

_"Rules? you mean like...for a game?"_

**_'Y-yes! In a way, they are what we'll call the 'Rules of the Forest','_**_ Slenderman said, not wanting to frighten the young girl. _**_'And you must remember them if you want to come and visit me.'_**

_Nancy nodded her head with enthusiasm. "Sure, I will! I promise!"_

**_'Good, here are the rules,'_**_ Slender began, lifting up one finger at a time after each rule he gave. _**_'One, you must never run while in these woods, especially at nighttime. Two, you must never scream or shout. And three, you must always be on your guard whilst venturing on your own.'_**

_Although she was puzzled by those strange rules, nevertheless, Nancy agreed to them. "So...what shall we play then Slender?"_

**_'Whatever you want to play, little one.'_**

_"My names Nancy, not 'little one," she said with a momentary frown. She then started to think hard about the games that they could play. "How about... hide and seek?"_

**_*End of Flashback*_**

As Nancy woke up from her forgotten memories, she found herself lying on the forest floor, with Slenderman and Benjamin, with wide worried eyes, staring down at her. Blinking a couple times, she slowly sat up while clutching her head to stop the dizzy spells that she was getting.

"Whoa...w-what just happened? Oh man, that was weird! One minute I was asking questions, the next thing I knew, I was seeing my ten year old self smiling and getting along with Slenderman," Nancy said.

"Wait a second, are you telling me that you and Slenderman not only have met before, but were also friends?!" Ben asked, shocked as well as amazed.

_'Yes we were. In fact, I was her only friend at the time,'_ the Slenderman sudden spoke up, causing Ben to jump slightly. _'She was lonely and wanted a friend, I was alone and in some ways wanted company as well.'_

"Yeah...that's right!" Nancy stated, going through some of her now recovered memories. "I called you 'Slender' for short ever since I first met you! And we used to play our own version of games such as hide and seek! I even snuck out of the house late at night just to visit you!"

_'Yes, you were quite a determined little one at the time. You still kept that determination after all these years,'_ he then said, sounding pleased.

"So does this mean that you're not going to hurt us or...?" Benjamin begins asking, quickly looks into his Slenderman facts book. 'Kill us and eat our hearts while crouching over a maggot-riddled sarcophagus?"

Slenderman seemed disgusted by those questions, despite not having any facial features. _'Although I have the capability of killing without remorse and sometimes eat human flesh out of hunger, I do not eat them in such... dismal places like what you have described.'_ Ben paled upon hearing that Slenderman actually did eat people. Slenderman noticed this and quickly added another fact. _'But don't worry, I will not harm you! I am not as cruel and heartless as you are led to believe by what you read or hear.'_

Benjamin sighed with relief. "I'm glad to hear that!" he said. "Wow, I wish I had that sort of friendship like you guys had back then. The only friend I ever had and ever been close to before meeting Nancy was my brother, and now we're not as close like we used to."

_'Well, you're more than welcome to come into this forest anytime to see me, if you want to,'_ Slenderman said.

"Really? You mean I can be friends with you?!" Ben asked, somewhat excited. He may have been frightened by Slenderman at first, but after realizing that he wasn't as bad he thought he would've been, Ben was more than happy to hang around the Slenderman any day!

_'Of course. However, much like Nancy, you must also follow the 'rules of the forest'_

"Rules? There are actual rules to this place?" Ben then asked, puzzled more than suspicious.

_'Yes, and these rules are very important to follow if you are to venture here,'_ Slenderman explained before looking towards Nancy. _'I take it that you now remember those rules, Nancy?'_

"Yeah, just about. They're a little fuzzy, but I can remember the main ones so far. By the way, why is it that those rules of yours are so important for us to follow?"

It was then that Slenderman seemed to really hesitate, looking away to avoid Nancy's intense gaze. _'I'm afraid I cannot answer your question. The less you know about my world, the better.'_

Both Benjamin and Nancy noticed Slender's strange behavior, and were curious, if not a bit disturbed. It made them wonder if there was something else in these woods besides their tall friend, something more...threatening.

Before Nancy could have a chance on asking Slenderman further questions, Ben quickly butted in. "Hey, I have an idea! Why don't we all play one of your games before going back home?"

_'That sounds like an excellent idea!'_ Slenderman said, sounding more than happy on changing the subject. He then looked at Nancy. _'What game shall we play that Ben will enjoy?'_

Nancy frowned. Although she would've rather asked questions, such as about her amnesia incident eight years ago, she knew that it would be pointless to do so. She pondered over the choice of games that they could play until one finally stuck out. "I know, why don't we play a game of hide and seek!"

* * *

Okay, more interesting this time. Also I added a small reference of Supernatural. In a way it works, since both Nancy and Dean LOVE pie (well cinnamon pies in Nancy's case). Also, you now can see that both Nancy and Slender had been quite good friends.

Also if you remember from chapter four, there was a momentary flashback of Nancy and Slenderman playing their own version of hide and seek at night. Hopefully the next chapter will be just as interesting as this one. Hope you enjoy reading this story so far.


	9. Time to Meet the Local Scum-Bags

Summary: When 18 year old Nancy Gale arrived into the isolated town of Blackwood, she never expected to be reacquainted with an old and mysterious friend that she had long since forgotten. As Nancy stays longer in the town, she starts to realize that a dark and frightening secret is being kept, followed by a threatening creature that she had once encountered years ago. Can Nancy and her new friends uncover the secret and stop the evil that threatens to take over the town? Read to find out! Also ratings may change later.

* * *

Chapter 8: Time to Meet the Local Scum-Bags

_HONK-HONK!_

"HEY JAKE! COME ON, WE NEED TO GET GOING NOW!"

"COMING!"

Nancy suddenly jumped out of her bed, surprised by the loud noises outside. "Wuah! What the heck?!" she cried out. She then groggily got out of her bed, trudged over to her window, and looked out to see Jake rushing out of his house and went into a white van before it drove off. She then walked over to her alarm clock and saw to her horror that it was six thirty in the morning! Groaning with frustration, she flopped face-down onto her bed.

Last night, Slender, Ben and herself spent almost two hours playing hide and seek in the woods until about ten-thirty, when Ben's mother called saying she was coming back. They then quickly said their goodbyes to Slender, promising to return again soon, and steadily walked back to Nancy's house before Mrs Harper arrived. Of course Nancy and Ben had to stuff their faces with a couple spoon-full of cinnamon pie and turn on the TV to a movie, just to make it seem like they had been actually doing something in the house.

After Mrs Harper had collected her son, Nancy wanted to do nothing else except to take a nice long sleep in her bed, and to stay there until later the next day. However she didn't expect a surprise wake-up call from the outside world!

"How the hell can that guy wake up so early in the morning?!" she thought out-loud.

Unfortunately, she couldn't get back to sleep thanks to that unfortunate rude awakening. So she reluctantly dragged herself away from the bed, trudged to the bathroom, had a shower to wake herself up, got dressed and ate breakfast.

Not knowing what to do, and too tired to care, she decided to just sit down and check out her e-mails while watching some random TV shows. Just then, a knock at the door was heard.

Sighing, Nancy got up and dragged herself to the door. When she opened the door, she saw to her surprise, a sleepy Benjamin with a mass of bed-headed hair. "Ben?! What are you doing this early in the morning?!"

"Hey Nancy, well mom had to go into town to get some groceries, and since I didn't want to go and my brother has gone out already, she said to go to one of our neighbors and have them look after me. Is it alright if I hang out with you?" Ben asked.

"Uh...yeah sure, come on in," she said, allowing Ben to enter. "By the way, where was your brother going this early in the morning?

"Dunno, most likely going to some part-time job that he got. He's trying to save enough money to repair his motorbike," he explained. "A lot of the older kids seem to be into riding those."

"I see," Nancy began while pondering on what to do next. "Well, how about we venture into the town in a few minutes? Maybe even get ourselves some lunch?"

"Sure! But you're buying!" Ben said, grinning from ear to ear.

Nancy rolled her eyes. "Alright mister, just let me get myself organized so we can go." She said before heading upstairs to get her purse.

* * *

_Later..._

"Slow down Nancy!" Benjamin cried out, running after Nancy, who was wearing her rollerblades again.

She sighed while stopping, waiting till Ben finally caught up. "Sorry, always keep forgetting that you don't have rollerblades."

"Actually, no one here has rollerblades. They either ride on scooters, bicycles, motorbikes or cars," Ben explained as he caught up with her. "In fact, I think you're the only one who owns a pair of rollerblades."

"Well, that would explain why a lot of people were staring at me like I had and extra limb or something," Nancy said. She then spots a burger joint. "Hey, wanna have a burger for lunch?"

Benjamin looked nervous for some reason. "Uh...you mean in there? I don't think that's a good idea..."

"Why? Are the burgers there not so great?"

"No their burger are awesome! It's just that...well...the bullies hang out there,"

"Again with those bullies?! I thought after being punished by me and their parents, they would've learned their lessons!" Nancy exclaimed, already getting annoyed with those little 'rugrats'.

Ben shakes his head vigorously. "Oh not _those_ bullies. I'm talking about the **_BIGGER_** bullies! They love picking on almost everyone, especially the weak ones, while flirting with every cute girl that comes by. In fact, no one even **_dares_** to try and stand up to them!" he explained. "Maybe we should go to the diner where my mom works?"

Nancy sighed. "Look, you can't run away from bullies all the time. The only thing that anyone can do is stand up to them...even if it means you get injured in the process," she said. "Believe me, I know."

"You were bullied as well?"

"Not quite, I mean someone once tried to bully me a while back. But they didn't expect me to punch them in the face, followed by grabbing a hand-full of their hair and dragging then across the floor at a running pace," she explained sheepishly. "Of course I was given detention after that. But the point is, after I stood up to that one person, no one dared try bullying me again."

"I'll say!" Ben exclaimed, surprised that someone as nice and fun-loving as Nancy had such a violent side to her. But then again, he noticed that her personality did change somewhat when faced with bullies.

"Now come on, let's go and eat some burgers before we do anything else!" They both then headed off to the burger joint. Of course, when they got in, they saw someone that they didn't expect.

"Welcome to Big Joe's Burger Joint. How may I help you?"

"Jake?!"

"Ben?! Nancy?! What are you guys doing in here?!" Jake asked. He was standing behind the counter, waiting to serve the next person. Of course he never expected to see his younger brother and his next-door neighbor to suddenly arrive.

"Well obviously, we came here to eat some burgers for lunch. The question is, what are _you_ doing here?!" Nancy said mimicking Jake's question.

"Well isn't it obvious, I'm working here!" Jake said, pointing to the apron and the burger joint hat on his head. "This is one of my part-time jobs."

"Wow really? I would never have guessed," Nancy stated, her tone laced with sarcasm. "So can we order a couple of burgers and some fries on the side?"

Jake frown for minute before complying. "Fine, what sort of drinks do you two want with them?"

"I'll have a coke. What about you Ben?"

"Same thing."

"Right, so that's two burgers, two cokes and fries. I suppose you want these as take-outs then," Jake said while calculating the price.

"Actually we're gonna be eating our lunch in here. I hope you have no problem in us eating here," Nancy said, smirking.

"...Very well. That'll be nine bucks and fifty cents please," he said. Strangely enough, he looked wary. As if he was worried about something.

As soon as they got their food, both Nancy and Benjamin sat in the corner of the room, near the entrance. "Well, your brother is as cheery as ever."

"Oh he's always been like that, ever since dad died. Before, he was nicer and less gloomy." Ben explained before taking a big bite out of his burger.

"Really?! I always thought that he was a 'grumpy-old scrooge' since birth!" Nancy said. "Huh, go figure."

Just then, a group of five big, mean-looking teenage boys entered the burger joint, causing everyone in the room who were talking casually, to suddenly go into complete silence. By the style of their outfits and the tattoos on their arms, they looked to be bikers. They cast their eyes around their surroundings, glaring at the customers and workers, who purposely looked the other way. Even Jake and Ben looked away, either out of fear or to avoid a hostile confrontation. Nancy however was the only one in the room that never looked down or away, and continued to stare at them.

The gang took notice and two of them marched over. One of them, the leader most likely, was the first to speak. "What are you looking at?!"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm looking at you guys," she answered, taking a good look at the leader in front of her. He was more buff-looking than the others with a gruff exterior, wild tattoos all over his arms and short spiky hair.

The larger one of the two sneered. "You're not from this town are you? Otherwise you'd have been cowering from us. You must be that new girl," he said.

"And you must be the local thugs of the town," she stated.

The brute chuckled. "You've got a lot of guts talking like that. But since you're new here, I'll let it be. Besides, you're pretty cute." he said as he leaned over, putting his arm around Nancy, who cringed. "All me to introduce myself and the boys. Back there is Vincent, Dolph and Jay. This here is Keith. And I'm Boris."

Nancy frowned but nevertheless kept her cool. "Nice ta make your acquaintance, _Boris_. I'm Nancy, Nancy Gale."

"Well then Nancy-baby, how's about you and I go out for a drink later tonight?" Boris asked, grabbing her chin and caressing her cheeks.

Nancy swatted his hand away. "No thanks. Got other plans tonight," she said, not even having to think for a minute about her answer. She then looked away and started drinking her soda, purposely ignoring Boris.

"Oh, playing hard to get are ya?" Boris asked, grinning. "I like that in a girl. Well, if ya change your mind, I'll be hanging about at the counter with my guys. Talk to ya later Nancy-baby!" He and Keith then walked back to the rest of the gang, but not before roughly messing up Ben's hair.

Now that their back was turned, Nancy silently make a 'Bleh' motion, shuddering in the process. The thought about Boris and his sudden interest in her made the hairs on her skin stand on ends, while her goosebumps had goosebumps.

At the same time, Benjamin was sorting out his messed-up hair. "Phew! That was a close call! For a minute there, I thought he was gonna throw my drink over my head like last time."he whispered.

"He actually did that in public?!" she asked, appalled.

"Yeah, although that's not the worst he can do. One time, he apparently trashed one of the stores in the area because the manager refused to give him something. He even tied someone up and left them hanging on a pole in the middle of a field like a scarecrow!" Ben explained.

Suddenly, their conversation was interrupted when they heard crashing, followed by drinks being splashed. When they turned round, they saw two of the thugs behind the counter, trashing some of the stuff while throwing insults at a couple of the staff. While that was happening, another one of the thugs was busy munching on the food at the counter without paying for any of it. But what caught both their attention was Boris, who had dumped a large cup of soda drink all over Jake, drenching him completely in the sticky substance! Despite the owner asking them to leave, the gang paid no attention.

Nancy narrowed her eyes whilst staring at the group harassing Jake and the rest of the workers, who didn't do anything to defend themselves, her hands clenched tightly in anger. Although knowing that interfering was probably not the best idea, she couldn't just sit there and watch them get away with it. It was time that those 'scum-bags' were taught a lesson.

"Ben, I need you to do something for me," she said, not even looking away from the scene.

"Wh-what's that?" he asked nervously.

"Hide underneath the table. And whatever you do, don't come out of there until either me or your brother call out or come over to you." Nancy then got up from the table and started gliding over to the counter in her rollerblades, taking a bottle of ketchup sauce with her. Knowing what she was planning on doing, Ben wasted no time and immediately went underneath the table. The customers in the burger joint watched Nancy going over, staring at her as though she was crazy.

"Hey! Attila the Hun!" she called out while tapping Boris on the shoulder. As soon as he turned, Nancy quickly squirted the ketchup square in the eyes! Boris roared in anger and pain from the irritation of the sauce. While that scene was happening, everyone stared in horror by what she had just done. In fact, some of them even gasped. Jake's expression was priceless. It was a mixture of horror, fear and irritation all at once.

Once he managed to remove most of the ketchup from his eyes, he saw Nancy smirking up at him, causing him to burn with fury. "You bitch! How dare you attack me!"

"Well if you weren't such a horrible brute of a baboon along with your group of chimpanzees, I wouldn't be doing this to ya!" she explained, not once flinching.

Boris's face began to turn red with anger, his hands balled themselves into fists."I'm not a baboon!"

"Alright, alright. You're not a baboon," Nancy said, backing off slightly. Before Boris had a chance to calm down and back off slightly, she then added another insult. "You look more like a oversized shaved gorilla with a swollen head! Tell me, are you by any chance related to King Kong?"

Well, that certainly made Boris snap. He was filled with so much anger, that he blindly charged at Nancy! Luckily, she was fast enough to move out of the way, causing Boris to fly into some of the tables and chairs, hitting his shoulder and head as well as sending some trays with leftover food flying into the air before landing right on top of him. Stumbling to get onto his feet, covered in bits of food, he turns to glare murderously at Nancy, who has surprisingly managed to stay calm.

"That's it! Now you die for sure!" he roared, signaling his cronies to surround her. Each of them stood still, either wielding their fists or an item that they just grabbed from the table and counter.

"Something tells me that _this_ is gonna be fifteen minutes of **_pain_**!" Nancy stated, bracing herself for the fight of her life.

* * *

_Twenty minutes later..._

"OWowowow! Hey, take it easy with that!" Nancy said while the owner of the Burger joint, Big Joe, placed a pack of frozen peas over her bruised left eye

"Damn! You really got punched there lassie! You're gonna be having that black eye for at least a week."

"Well I suppose it's better to have a black eye than to be in a state that they're in," she stated, pointing to the group of thugs, now being escorted by the town police.

Vincent and Keith had plastic wrap wrapped around their arms, caused by oil burns from the deep fryer machine, followed by a couple of bruises on the face from the spatula that Nancy hit them with. Dolf was covered in mustard and Ketchup sauce, with a burn mark on the side of cheek and hand when he toppled over and landed on the Char-broiler as well as some bruises to his face when she hit him with her fist. The worst off was Boris, despite him being the hardest to knock down. But like they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall! Also, despite his brute strength, he was neither agile or fast to catch Nancy, especially with her rollerblades on. He received several bumps to the head, due to his reckless charging, a sprain on his left leg, cause by being careless and stumbling over the chairs, and several bruisings from Nancy taking a few swings. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't fast enough to dodge his incoming fist, which caught her in the eye, however she did managed to kick him in the face as she fell backwards, breaking his nose and leaving a visible imprint of her rollerblades.

Now, all five of them were being take down to the police station, arrested for vandalism, verbal abuse, theft, and physical harm against a citizen. Nancy would've been arrested as well, but thanks to the people in the burger joint, who said that her actions were self-defense, she was only given a warning.

Boris, being escorted by the sheriff's deputy and another police officer, who had to support him due to his sprained leg, gave Nancy a death glare. "I'M GONNA GET YOU FOR THIS NANCY GALE! When I get out of this, I'm gonna make you wish that you were **dead**!" He was then rushed off to the station.

Nancy chuckled. "Ha! I'd like to see him try," she said with confidence. With Big Joe's help, she slowly stood up. "Well, after all that, I think I'll go back home and take a nap or something."

"That sounds like a good idea. Hey, Jake!" he called out. "Why don't you and and your little brother escort this young lady back home."

"Yes sir, but what about-?" Jake began while pointing to the trashed burger joint.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of that stuff. Use this time as a break before going off on your next job at the mechanic store,"

Jake sighed. "Alright." He then walked Nancy, who still had her rollerblades on, and Ben back to their neighborhood.

As soon as they were a certain distance away from the scene, and away from public site, Jake suddenly punched Nancy in the shoulder, nearly knocking her to the floor. "Ow! What was that for?!" she asked.

"What the hell were you thinking?! Don't you realize that you nearly got yourself killed with that crazy stunt you just pulled back there!?"

"Well they needed to be taught a lesson," she explained. "Besides, you didn't even try to defend yourself when he threw that drink all over you. And didn't your mom ever teach you that it's not nice to hit a girl?"

"Look I'm sorry about that, but what you did back there was stupid! Everyone knows not to mess with those guys! It only brings in more trouble than it's worth!" Jake explained as they continued to walk down the road. "You're just lucky that you're not a local here, otherwise the law here wouldn't be this fair with you!"

That caught Nancy by surprise. "What are you talking about? All laws in this country are suppose to be fair."

"Not in Blackwood! In this town, if you were related to someone of higher status like Boris, you can get away with just about everything! Even the rest of the townspeople realize that the best way to avoid confrontation is to turn a blind-eye to everything that they do! It's only with visitor such as yourself do they bring up the law, so that you don't spread this out to the places outside of this town," he said. "I mean, even Mayor Thompson probably has a few dirty secrets of his own."

"Hold on, the Mayor?! What make you think he has secrets?" she asked.

Jake suddenly went silent, probably because he realized that he had said too much. "N-nevermind! Anyway, we're here now," he said as they reached Nancy's house. "Hey Ben, why don't you go and stay with Nancy for a while? I gotta go somewhere for a bit."

"Wait a minute! You haven't answered my question!" Nancy cried out, but Jake had already ran off, leaving both of them puzzled. "What was that all about? Did you know about any of this?"

"No, that's the first time I ever heard about all this. But then again, grown-ups never tell kids anything that isn't worth telling us about just yet," Ben said.

"Yeah I guess so, but what does he mean about the Mayor having a few secrets?"

"Maybe it was something that he hear from dad a while back. Dad _used_ to be the sheriff's deputy after all, well...until he died that is. And a good one at that," he explained.

"Really?! Cool!" Nancy said, half impressed and half puzzled by what Jake has just told her. She couldn't help but feel that there was more to this town then meets the eye. And after meeting Slender and hearing about the killer monster, there was no doubt about it. "So, now that your brother has abandoned us...again, and you're mom doesn't seem to be back home just yet, what do you want to do?"

"Well, if it was possible, I would've said that we could go down into the woods and played with Slender again. I had so much fun! Shame that we can't go there until later in the evening."

"Yeah, shame really...oh I know! We'll do a bit of painting!"

"Oh no! No more! I'm not helping decorating your room again!" Ben said.

Nancy looked puzzled. "What are you talking about? I was talking about painting pictures and stuff. Maybe even redraw some artwork on my bedroom wall."

"Ohhhhhhhh! Yeah okay!"

* * *

Yes Ladies and Gentlemen, I have allowed my main character to get a black eye! Although I don't take pleasure in doing that to her, it was important for her to receive at least one injury when she had to face a bunch of thugs that act as though they rule the town. I did however enjoying giving them some injuries they would never forget. Although I did make them such klutz! XD

And I left this with a cliffhanger as usual. After all, don't wanna give everything away. XD I hope to write more of Jake as well as the other two.

And yes, I know there isn't any Slenderman in this chapter, however he will show up in the next chapter...I think. But now, I've left a speculation that there is something dodgy happening in the town. Hope you enjoy the story so far and fav and review please!


	10. Dude, where's my bike?

Summary: When 18 year old Nancy Gale arrived into the isolated town of Blackwood, she never expected to be reacquainted with an old and mysterious friend that she had long since forgotten. As Nancy stays longer in the town, she starts to realize that a dark and frightening secret is being kept, followed by a threatening creature that she had once encountered years ago. Can Nancy and her new friends uncover the secret and stop the evil that threatens to take over the town? Read to find out! Also ratings may change later.

* * *

Chapter 9: Dude, where's my Bike?

"Ah! Today feels like a good day! What do you think Ben?" Nancy asked, feeling cheerful despite her sore eye, covered up with an eye patch. The two were taking a stroll around the peaceful part of the town on a warm summer's day , eating orange ice lollies.

"I agree, after having so much fun last night, I think that this has been the best week of my life!" Benjamin stated.

"So true! Although I have to admit, I was a bit worried that Slender was gonna have a fit after I told him how I got the black eye," she admitted. "I don't think I've ever seen him look so mad before."

"I'm more surprised that we could actually _tell_ that he was mad! Especially since he has no face to show anger."

It was true. When they went off into the woods after Mrs Harper left for work and found Slender, he was quite concerned when he noticed Nancy's bruise and asked what had happened. When they explained how a group of thugs came, started harassing some people, and how Nancy stood up to them, only for the leader to punch her in the eye, Slender's once friendly mood quickly changed. His claw-like hands had clenched tightly while the tendrils on his back thrashed about wildly like cat's tails, snapping a couple of twigs in the process. He even threatened to go find those thugs and make them 'pay' for their attack on his friend. Luckily, both Nancy and Ben managed to calm Slender down before he attempted to go off and find them.

Just as they were about to walk past a bike shop, something in there caught Nancy's eye. It was a blue black Kawasaki ZX-6R Ninja motorcycle with silver streak designs around it, possible the best looking motorcycle that she had ever seen in this town. No doubt the most expensive type in that store. With it's sleek and impressive features, why it was not yet sold surprised Nancy.

Ben noticed her standing still, staring at the all the bikes. "What? You see something?"

Nancy smirked. "Oh yeah. Hold on a second will ya?" She then walked inside.

* * *

_Few minutes later..._

"I can't believe you spent eight thousand bucks on that bike! In fact, I can't believe you even had enough money to even buy it!" Ben exclaimed, shocked at seeing his babysitter coming out of the store with a motorcycle, along with a helmet and other materials.

Well, since a lot of the others my age have motorcycles, I think it's about time I have one," Nancy explained before walking towards an open space. She then put on the helmet and started looking through the manual. "So...how does one actually ride these things?"

"You mean you've never driven on a motorcycle before?!" he asked.

"No, never really needed one back in San Francisco. But I've always wanted to have a motorcycle, but my parent's said no and that it's too dangerous to drive. And since they're not here to tell me what to do, I can go about my days as I please. And that means buying and driving this motorcycle!" she said. "I mean, how hard can it be to drive a motorcycle? Aren't they similar to scooters?"

"NO! Not even close! In fact, they're faster than a scooter, and have more power!"

"Oh relax, I'm sure to figure this out soon. I usually do." After looking through the basics in the manual, she then began to start up the vehicle. At first, everything seemed to be going smoothly, until she accidentally revved it up too much, making the vehicle to rear up, causing Nancy to fall off off and land on her butt!

Ben quickly rushed over. "Nancy are you alright?!"

She slowly stood up and rubbed her sore back. "Yeah, just a little sore that's all. I guess I put too much power to start off. Well, like they say, practice makes perfect!" she said before getting back on the motorcycle once again.

Ben cringed, knowing all too well that the whole motorcycle business was a bad idea. "This is **_not_** gonna end well!"

* * *

_One hour later, at the Harper's house,_

Jake was outside his garage with his friends, repairing some parts of his motorcycle, which looked as if it had seen better days. Unfortunately, it looked as if certain parts of the machine needed more than just repairs. Some parts needed replacements, however Jake at this point couldn't afford to buy any of those needed parts, meaning that he would have to wait until he had enough money to fix it.

Just as he finished repairing one part of the motorcycle, one of his friends noticed something in the distance. "WHOA! Hey, isn't that your brother and your next-door neighbor coming over?!"

Jake looked away from his work to see to his surprise, his brother Benjamin pushing a motorcycle while Nancy was walking slowly behind, limping slightly while rubbing her back. He and his friends quickly rushed over. "What the hell happened to you?!"

"Nothing happened! Just a minor accident, nothing more," she said through gritted teeth.

"She tried to ride her motorcycle, knowing that she hadn't had any lessons or knowledge on how to ride one," Ben explained.

Nancy frowned. "Oh alright mister smarty-pants. So maybe I was wrong when I said driving a motorcycle would be like riding a scooter," she said, causing some of Jake's friends to laugh. "It could happen to anyone!"

"Yeah, to an air-head!" one of the guys said before laughing again. He soon went silent when Nancy gave him her death glare.

Nancy then winced in pain. "If you guys aren't too busy laughing at my expense, then perhaps you wouldn't mind helping Ben put my motorcycle away as well as helping me get into my own house!?"

So with haste, while two of the guys brought the motorcycle into Nancy's driveway, the rest of them carefully carried her into her house before they gently set her down onto one of her sofas. Jake even went into her kitchen and prepared her an ice pack for her back.

"Ah~! That's feels much better! Thanks!" Nancy said as she sighed with content, the ice pack's soothing affect bringing relief to her sore back.

"Well for someone whose such a klutz with motorcycles, you sure have good taste," another one of Jake's friends complimented as he looked out of the window to admire the vehicle. "Did you just get that today?"

"Yep! I sure did!" she said, beaming proudly.

"She spent eight thousand dollars on that motorcycle," Ben added in a matter-of-fact tone.

"WHAT?! Are you insane?! Why didn't you get one of the cheeper ones?" another guy asked.

"Cause they didn't look as nice as this one," Nancy explained. "Anyways, I'm gonna learn how to ride that motorcycle, no matter how long it takes!"

"That could take a while..." Jake muttered before looking out of the window, staring at the motorcycle.

Meanwhile, his friends continued to chat with Nancy. "Say, aren't you that girl who beat up Boris and his gang?"

"Yep, and I've got the black eye to prove it," Nancy said and she pulled up her eye patch, showing them the bruise.

"Whoa! You must have a lot of guts to go up against that lot!"

"The guy was a jerk, and a bully. The all were. He deserved what he got," she explained. "Besides, he was hitting on me. That's a bonus reason for me to attack him."

"Damn! Note to self guys. No flirting with _this_ girl." The others agreed.

"Well, as much as we would _love_ to stay and chat, we should really get going. Come on guys, let's go!" Jake said, pushing his friends out of the house. He the turned to his brother. "Come one Ben, let's go home. You can come back here later when mom goes to work again. Besides, I thought we can watch that film that you like so much before I go off tonight."

"Really? Great!" Ben said before turning to Nancy. "Will you be alright by yourself?"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. You just spend some time with your brother," she said. "And anyways, you'll be seeing me again later this evening. So go have some brother-bonding time."

As the two boys left, Jake took a brief moment to stare at Nancy's motorcycle again before walking inside his home.

* * *

_ Later that evening..._

"Don't worry Mrs Harper, we'll sure have a good and safe time. And thanks again for the pie!"

After talking to Mrs Harper, Nancy walks into the living room, once again carrying a tin of cinnamon pie. "I have to say, your mom really spoils me with these! If I don't slow down on eating these cinnamon pies, I'm gonna end up being as big as a house!"

"I know! I've never seen anyone else who can devour this many pies at such a short time!" Ben exclaimed.

"What can I say, I addicted to your mom's food!" she explained. "So, shall we go out and meet slender?"

"Not yet, my brother is still in the house. He should be going out in about a few minutes."

"Okay, well we'll leave as soon as he leaves then," Nancy said as she positioned herself near the window. "For now, let's just watch some TV."

It wasn't before she saw the door to Ben's house opening, with Jake coming out carrying what appeared to be his biker helmet.

"Okay Ben! It looks like he's leaving. I'm just pack up some food and drinks," Nancy said before going off into the kitchen while Ben walked over to the window and saw his brother standing outside. It looked as if he was thinking about something.

What happened next shocked Ben. Jake suddenly walked over to Nancy's driveway, opened her garage door, then walked in before coming out with her motorcycle, which she had put away some time ago, a minute later. Then without hesitation, he put his helmet on, then got onto the vehicle and started the engine before zooming off.

Ben couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. "Uh-oh! Nancy, I think you better get over here!" he called out.

"Why, what's the matter? Has your brother not left yet?"

"No he left alright, but he took your motorcycle..."

"WHAT?!" Nancy rushed over, went outside and saw that Ben was right. 'Now why would Jake take my bike?! Does he usually need one when going out working?"

"No, most times he would just walk to work. Or even get a ride from one of his friends," he explained as he came outside, still shocked by what he just witnessed. "I can't believe my own brother actually just stole that motorcycle! I mean, why would he do something like that?!"

"Well some guys his age tend to do at least some sort of crime. It's what they call a stupid phase really, until they learn their lesson by getting arrested or being grounded by their parents," Nancy explained.

"Not my brother! He's never stolen anything in his entire life!"

"Until tonight that is," she added. "Do you know of any reason why he would need a motorcycle?"

"No, I mean he already has a motorcycle," Ben said.

"Yeah, one that has seem better days. That's for sure."

"But still, I don't get why Jake would need a motorcycle," he said, looking puzzled.

It was at that moment, that Nancy thought of something. "Hey Ben? Do you know if there are any long roads that are nice and open at night?"

"Yeah, just a few miles from here. Why?"

"It's just a theory, but I think I might know what he might be doing with my motorcycle," she began while grabbing her stuff. "Come on, let's go and see Slender. Then I'll go over and try and find Jake while Slender stays with you. If my theory is correct, then it's probably best if you don't show up. It's not a kids thing."

* * *

_Later, at the open road,_

Nancy had just reached the open road, where she saw a group of young adults and teenagers standing about around the side of the road, some were wearing their biker helmets while standing next to their motorcycles. It appeared that whatever they were doing, had just finished. It wasn't long until she finally spotted Jake, surrounded by his friends, congratulating him. Frowning while having her arms crossed, Nancy marched up to where they were.

"Awesome race dude!"

"Yeah! And you won quite a lot of money! Now you can go and get your own motorcycle repaired!"

"What about the one he has right now? Can't he just ditch the old one and stick to this awesome beauty?"

"No you dufus! That one belongs to his next-door neighbor, Nancy!"

"You mean that new girl? I never knew she had a bike."

"She just got it today. Brand new and expensive."

"Whoa! And she let you borrow it Jake?!"

Jake sighed. "Not exactly...I sort of just borrowed it without her permission," he explained to his friends. "But since she's babysitting my brother again, she won't be going out. That way, I can return the bike into her garage way before she notices."

"Nice try buddy, but no such luck!"

As soon as they heard that, all the guys looked over to where the voice was, and saw a very pissed off Nancy.

Jake, knowing that he was in trouble, sighed and looked towards his friends. "You guys better go now. I'll see you all tomorrow if I can."

Nodding, they all quickly rushed off back to their homes. Meanwhile, Jake walked over to Nancy, pushing her motorcycle over as well.

"I know what you're gonna say Nancy, and I-"

"Can you care to explain to me as to _why_ you thought you had to steal my motorcycle?!" Nancy asked.

"I didn't steal it, I was borrowing it!"

"Yeah, without **_my_** permission!" she said. "You know, you could've asked."

"I couldn't! Not with my brother around, otherwise I would've had to explain why I needed it!" Jake explained. "And the last thing I want him to know is that I'm doing illegal races."

"Well he already knows about you stealing my motorcycle. He was the one who witnessed you doing it," Nancy explained as Jake cringed. "And anyways, I can understand why you wanted to do that. So you can get enough money to repair that bike of yours."

"It's not just for that," Jake said.

"It isn't? Then what all that money for then?" she asked, puzzled.

"It's travelling money, for when I leave Blackwood for good!" Jake explained. "I'm planning to live elsewhere, and build myself a new life, without my mom and my brother...regrettably."

"For good?! But why?! And why not take your family as well?"

"Why? I'll tell you why. This town has changed, corrupted in many ways! People of higher status getting away with things while those lower have to watch and suffer! It's not right!" Jake began explaining. "I've tried to explain this to my mom, but she just won't listen. She oblivious to everything! Benjamin isn't as oblivious to this town as she is. I wish I could take him out of this town as well, but I don't want my mom to be on her own. If my dad were still alive, he would've said the same thing and have us move out of this town! He noticed that things were changing in this town, ever since the Mayor first took his position. Ever since after that incident that had happened eight years ago involving those kids. He knew something was wrong, and began investigating about them secretly."

"Until he passed away you mean," she guessed.

"He didn't just die, he was **_murdered_**!" Jake said, his tone darkened.

Nancy's eyes widened. "Murdered?!"

"Yes, murdered. Of course, other people will tell you that he died in a car accident, but I _know_ that he was murdered. He was never a careless driver, and would never drink drive. I also knew that he had found something that would help support his theory of the Mayor being the one responsible of corrupting this town. But before he could get a hold of that evidence, he died." He then looked at Nancy straight in the eye, angry tears threatening to come out as he clenched his fists. "That's why I want to leave this godforsaken place. I think that if I can go into the city, study really hard, I can try and get into the police force and work my way up to being a detective. Then when I'm finally ready, I can return to the town and put a stop to everything that is happening here." Then without warning, he started to cry.

Nancy at this point couldn't help but feel sorry for Jake, making her forget about the motorcycle business. She couldn't imagine the ordeal that he had to go through. But still, something puzzled her. "Wait a minute, why are you telling me all of this? Is it cause I'm an outsider?"

Jake wiped the tears from his eyes. "It's not just that. I don't know why, either cause you've been really good to my family or that you have that sort of sense of justice, but I feel as if I can trust you with what I have to say," he explained. "I know that seems crazy, since I hardly know you, but I feel as if I need to talk to someone about my suspicions. Someone who shares my belief in bringing right from wrong."

Nancy pondered through with what Jake had just told her. It was true that she didn't tolerate such injustice, but she knew that running away from something like that wasn't going solve anything.

Also, he was right about the twisted side of the town. From she had seen and heard, she knew that there was something strange going on. Something that couldn't be ignored.

Nancy finally let out a sigh. "You're right, I do share your belief," she began. "Which is why I will help you get to the bottom of this mystery."

That got Jake's attention. "What? What do you mean?"

"I mean, that I will help you figure out what is going on with this town. If its true and that your father did figure something out few years ago, then it should still be about. I'm sure your dad would've been smart enough to leave behind some clues for you to find and that others wouldn't have notice. And in the meantime, I can go and snoop around the town and find out some things. After all, no one will suspect and _'outsider_' investigating the mysteries of Blackwood. Also, solving your mystery might actually help solve my amnesia mystery," she explained. "Besides, don't you think its better to find out the truth rather than leave things unknown?"

Jake stayed quiet for a while before smiling, which was a first for Nancy. "You're right. It is better for the truth to be known. That way, I can figure out what really happened to my father. Thanks Nancy."

"No problem," she said, smiling back. "Now let's go and put my motorcycle away. Of course that still doesn't mean I'm gonna forget about you stealing it from me."

Jake rolled his eyes humorously. After their talk, both Jake and Nancy began walking back into town pushing the motorcycle in the process.

"So where's Ben by the way? Still at your place?" Jake asked, only just realizing that he wasn't around.

"No he's in the woods," Nancy said, not realizing that she had just blabbed.

Jake suddenly grabbed the front of her shirt, angered and horrified with what he just heard. "_**What**_?! You left him in the woods by **_himself?_**!"

"Geez, what do you take me for? An imbecile? Don't worry he's safe. I left him in care of a friend," she explained.

"Friend? What friend?"

Nancy sighed, realizing that she let out more that should have. But then again, after hearing Jake's secret about his problems and desires, she decided that he was worthy to know what she and Ben know. Question was, will he accept that sort of knowledge without freaking out too much? "...can you keep a secret?"

* * *

Well that's the end of this chapter. And yes, there is going to be a new addition to the group, although I think that's gonna be kinda obvious. The question is, how will he react to seeing the Slenderman? Well, that will be known in the next chapter.

Also the plot is beginning to thicken. It will not be long before more of the town's secret starts to unravel. Anyways, read through and I hope you enjoy it. Also, please review!


	11. And Then There Were Four

Summary: When 18 year old Nancy Gale arrived into the isolated town of Blackwood, she never expected to be reacquainted with an old and mysterious friend that she had long since forgotten. As Nancy stays longer in the town, she starts to realize that a dark and frightening secret is being kept, followed by a threatening creature that she had once encountered years ago. Can Nancy and her new friends uncover the secret and stop the evil that threatens to take over the town? Read to find out! Also ratings may change later.

* * *

Chapter 10: And Then There Were Four

"How much further do we have to go through this place?" Jake asked, slightly annoyed as he followed her through the trees.

"Not far, they should just be a few feet away now," Nancy said for the fifth time in a row. "Unless of course those two are playing hide and seek, then it might take a while to find them."

Jake frowned before sighing and continued to follow. "You still haven't told me who this mysterious friend of your is. Is he local?"

"Well, yeah...in a manner of speaking." She then suddenly stopped walking. "Hold on, I sense something."

"Wait, what do you mean when you say 'you sense something'? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Jake then asked.

Instead of answering his questions, Nancy began to slink around the tall trees, peering around them. Her movements where so swift and quite, that even a mouse wouldn't be able to hear her. It wasn't long before Jake finally heard her voice of triumphant.

"Aha! Found you Ben!" she said, pushing some bushes aside to reveal little Benjamin crouched down on the ground.

"Awww man~! How is it that you're so good at this game?" he asked, standing up while brushing away the twigs and leaves.

Nancy grinned. "From past experience as well as a lot of practice from sneaking past my parents when I don't wanna hear their 'talk'."

Ben chuckled before noticing his older brother a few feet behind Nancy. "Jake?! What is he-?!"

"He's here under my invite. I thought that this would be the best time for him to be introduced to our friend," Nancy explained. "Speaking of which, is he around?"

"He should be. We decided to make a head start with our hide and seek game, making you the seeker anonymously."

"Trust you two to do that to me," she said with a chuckle. "Well I guess we had better find him then."

"Hey excuse me," Jake suddenly spoke up, making the pair turn around to face him. "As much as I would want to see this 'friend' that you two know so well, how will I recognize him if you won't tell me his name or what he looks like."

"We call him 'Slender'. And as for his appearance...well let's just say, you can't miss him. He sticks out like a sore thumb really, except in these woods," Nancy explained.

"How can someone be capable to stand out in a town, but won't when in the forest? Is he like some sort of 'tree spirit'?" Jake, asked his tone mixed with doubt and sarcasm.

Nancy then suddenly looked up and smirked. "Why don't you see for yourself?" she asked as pointed behind Jake.

When Jake turned around, all he could first see were a set of long dark trousers. As he slowly started to look up, he couldn't help but feel unnerved, like this person in front of him wasn't...human. When he finally got to the top where the head was, he froze stiff. What should have been a face with features, was a pale smooth head that seemed to stare down at him. There was that tense moment of silence before finally the 'Slender' person bent down so that he was staring at the older boy face-to-face. And then, to Jake's surprise, the 'Slender' person spoke. _'Hello Jake. Nice to finally meet you.'_

Then, to everyone's surprise, Jake did something that was really unlike him. He fainted.

After another minute of uncomfortable silence, Benjamin decided to speak up. "Well...that went well didn't it?"

* * *

Several minutes later,

"Jake~! Wakey-wakey~!" Nancy said, shaking Jake enough for hims to start coming to. As he opened his eyes, all he could see at the moment was Nancy and Ben standing over him.

Jake slowly sat himself up. "Urgh...wow, I had the weirdest dream. I dreamt that I came face-to-face with a tall faceless creature, who was also your friend and-" Before he had the chance to finish, he then saw the Slenderman standing a few feet away.

There was a minute of awkward silence between them, until Jeff decided to do the one thing that seemed natural...scream.

"Ahh-!" he started, only for Nancy to immediately cover his mouth, muffling his screams.

"You must never scream or shout whilst in the forest. That is one of the rules here," she explained. "So I'm not gonna let go until you _calm **down**_."

As soon as Jake calmed himself, Nancy slowly let go of his mouth.

"W-w-what or who the hell is it?!" Jake asked, trying hard not to scream again.

"**_He_** is the Slenderman, though we call him Slender for short," Nancy explained. "He's the best friend I was telling you about."

"Slenderman?" Jake then looked at his brother. "Isn't he that entity who kidnapped and possibly killed children that you often kept researching about?"

"Yeah that's him. Although not all the tales about him are true," Ben said. "I mean, I may have known Slender for a couple of days now, but he's a really nice guy. And fun to hang around."

"_**Nice**_?! Do you have _**any**_ idea of the rumors that are told about this guy?!" Jake began, horrified that they could be so laid-back when there was the Slenderman standing right behind them. "He's a creature that lures children under false pretence, then later eats them! Not to mention that he constantly stalks his victims until they are left almost completely insane and then kills them! In fact, now that I know he truly exists, I'm now certain that he's the so-called 'monster' that was responsible for those deaths eight years ago!"

"Chillax dude, he won't do that stuff. He's no monster and I can guarantee you that he was not the one who was responsible for those killings," Nancy said. "And besides...how the hell do you know so much about the Slenderman? Have you been reading about him?"

Jake fumed, his cheeks getting red from embarrassment, knowing that Nancy was spot on about his knowledge. "...That's not the point! The point is, how would **_you_** know that he won't?!"

"Cause he was my best friend eight years ago, when I first came to Blackwood," she said, acting as though that was the most natural thing in the world. "Not to mention my _only_ friend at the time."

It was at that point that Jake went all bug-eyed. "Seriously?! You and he were _**friends**_?!"

"Well yeah, I mean I'll admit I couldn't remember those times cause I got a minor case of amnesia before leaving Blackwood. But after coming back here again and seeing Slender again, my memories have been sort of coming back," she then explained. "Although I'm still no where near in solving the mystery to what caused me to have amnesia."

"I can see why," Jake began in a deadpan tone. "If you lot hadn't been too busy playing games every night, you could've been closer to figuring out what happened to your past."

"Well I did ask Slender one time if he had any idea as to what caused me to have amnesia, but he refused to tell me," Nancy explained.

"Well maybe it's because he **_was_** the one responsible for those deaths eight years ago, but he doesn't want to tell you in hope that you would let your guard down, then kill you the moment you are distracted!" Jake argued. Nancy on the other-hand was not buying it.

_'You're wrong, I was not the one responsible for those deaths eight years ago,'_ Slenderman spoke up, appearing beside them suddenly, causing Jake to jump.

"But you must at least know who was responsible, or why someone or _something_ did it," Jake then said, looking up at the Slenderman.

Instead of a response, Slenderman remained absolutely silent. They had no idea why, but he seemed...nervous and scared.

Seeing him in that unfamiliar mood, Nancy decided to butt in. "Oh knock it off Jake, if Slender doesn't want to tell us now, he doesn't have to. Let him explain when he's ready. In the meantime, we have bigger problems to deal with. Like those suspicions of your about the town for instance."

Although Jake wasn't pleased with the decision, nevertheless he agreed. So for ten minutes, he told Benjamin and Slender what he had told Nancy about what he knew and heard about from their father, and his speculation that he was murdered. He did however left out the part where he was planning on leaving the town to go off to the city. The las thing he wanted to do was upset his little brother.

"...So you see, if we can find enough evidence to prove that there is something dark going on in this town, and that may have something to do with the Mayor, we can not only discover what happen to dad, but we can actually bring justice to this town," Jake explained.

"But how are you going to find the evidence without alerting the townspeople?" Ben asked.

"That's where I come in," Nancy stated. "With me being an outsider and everything, I can easily snoop through things related to those incidents without arousing too much suspicions. After all, who's gonna be on the look out for an eighteen year old girl who is new to this town?"

_'I do not like this,'_ Slenger said. _'It sounds too dangerous. What if this all falls apart?'_

"Don't worry Slender, we'll all be careful at where we tread," Nancy assured him. She then turned to Jake. "But before we make this official, there is just one other thing that we need to make clear."

"What's that?"

"You have to promise to keep the knowledge about Slender living in the forest a secret," Nancy said. "We can't let anyone know about him. If they find out, they might mistake him for the 'demon' of the forest. And I am absolutely certain that Slender is innocent of those accusations."

"Please Jake!" Ben pleaded to his brother with big wide eyes. "Slender is really nice when you get to know him. You'll see!"

After a minute of silence, Jake sighed before he responded. "Alright, I promise. I may not like the idea, but all the same I will keep it a secret."

"Yay! Thanks bro!" Ben said, hugging Jake.

Nancy smiled. "Well now that you're in on our secret, I guess this means that you have officially become a member. Welcome to the group Jake," she announced, patting him on the back. Now with the new addition added to this interesting group, She then decided to lighten the mood up. "So...who's up for a game of 'Marco Polo'?"

* * *

Well that's another chapter over and done. The next chapter might take a while longer. I hope that on the next chapter, that the three will get a bit closer to the secret of the town. Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed this story so far, and I hope you are all looking forward to the next chapter...once I get around to writing it.


	12. The Mystery begins to Unravel

Summary: When 18 year old Nancy Gale arrived into the isolated town of Blackwood, she never expected to be reacquainted with an old and mysterious friend that she had long since forgotten. As Nancy stays longer in the town, she starts to realize that a dark and frightening secret is being kept, followed by a threatening creature that she had once encountered years ago. Can Nancy and her new friends uncover the secret and stop the evil that threatens to take over the town? Read to find out! Also ratings may change later.

* * *

Chapter 11: The Mystery begins to Unravel

"Oh. My. _God_! I cannot believe this," Nancy exclaimed while looking at an old document. "This woman gave birth to _dectuplets_ and all of them **_survived_**!? How is someone capable of giving birth to that many babies at once!?

"Shhhh!" the librarian quietly stated, pointing to the 'quiet' sign before cataloging some more books. Seeing that she making a scene again, Nancy quickly moved off to another part of the library, hoping to find something connected to the unfortunately incidents that had occurred to this town.

For two days now, she had spent her mornings snooping around the town, overhearing gossips and trying to find some documents in the library while at night, she would meet up with the guys and tell them what she had discovered. So far, all she could find was an old clipping of a fire that burned down parts of the town, plus one or two cases of missing people under mysterious circumstances, but nothing yet that would prove that someone was behind all of this.

On the plus side, she was pleased that Jake was finally starting to warm up to Slender, especially after their first meeting. It was still somewhat difficult for him to fully trust the faceless being, but she felt that in due time, he would also consider Slender to be a friend.

As Nancy continued to look through the old newspapers and magazines, she noticed that one or two of the people in the library were watching her closely. At first she thought it was because they had never seen the 'new girl' before and were staring at her out of curiosity. But as she took more notice of her surroundings, she noticed that their expressions were blank, quite unreadable, while their eyes seemed to be all glass-like. Almost as if they were under some sort of spell. Not only that, but it seemed that every time she moved to a different location, they would seem to follow her from a certain distance. It was only when she walked over to the fiction section did they stop following her.

At that moment, she realized that whatever was in those newspapers and magazines, especially the ones at the end, it was something that they didn't want people to be snooping into, especially outsiders. She had to see what was in those paper without others noticing.

Nancy quickly rushed to a corner of the library where there was no one in site, and rummaged through her backpack until she found a packet of firecrackers that she had brought with her in case of an emergency, and a lighter. Although it was a risky plan, she needed a good distraction that would enable her to rush over and grab those papers. So with great haste, she lit them up, tossed them onto the floor and rushed off away from the corner, praying that the explosion won't damage most of the books.

Within seconds, the firecrackers exploded, alerting everyone in the library. As soon as they saw the smoke coming from the location, everyone else rushed over to the scene, bringing over the fire extinguishers with them. While that was happening, Nancy quickly rushed over to the newspapers and magazines and grabbed as much as she could before stuffing them into her bag, taking a small pause just to see if anyone was looking. She even managed to grab a couple of documents that were labeled 'Blackwood' and shoved them in before the smoke cleared away and some of the people started to come back, acting as if it was normal.

Deciding that now was a good time for her to leave, she quickly picked a book from the fiction section, signed it out and left the library.

"Phew! Glad that's over with! Better leave before anymore distractions get in my way," Nancy muttered.

"Oh, hello there Miss Gale! So nice to see you again!" an overly cheerful voice called out to her.

_*Oh God!*_ she thought in dismay.

She didn't have to look to know that it was none other than Mayor Thompson. With a sigh, Nancy forced herself to smile and turn to face him. The Mayor was out on one of his daily walks, followed by his bodyguard Roger who was holding an umbrella over the Mayor's head. Apparently, the Mayor didn't like going out without some form of shade from the sun's rays.

"Hi there Mayor," she said, unsure of what else to say or do in order to not arouse suspicions. The last thing she wanted was for the Mayor himself to find out that she was investigating the town's secret. "So...what brings you to this part of the town?"

"Oh nothing much really. I was just putting up these signs for the next town meeting until I heard that there was an explosion in the library," The Mayor explained.

"Yeah there was. I was just in there picking out a book when it happened," Nancy, showing him the book that she got. "Nothing too serious though. Just a very might case it seems."

"Ah, well I'm glad to hear that no one was seriously harmed." The Mayor looks at the title of the book in Nancy's hand. "'Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: Nemesis'. Ah, so you are a murder mystery fan then."

"Yeah, this happens to be one of my favorite stories," Nancy said. She then looked at the flyers that they were carrying. "So this meeting, what's it all about?"

"Its about the new ideas that I am planning to make for this town. It's going to make a big impression to the townspeople," he explained. "You should come to this meeting as well! It's going to be something that'll make this town into a happy and perfect place."

She didn't know why, but hearing the word 'change' coming from the Mayor's mouth gave her chills. It was as though there was something ominous about the plans that he was going to make. "Oh uh...I dunno if I can go to the meeting I'm afraid. I've got other things that I need to attend to on that day."

"I see...well if you happen to change your mind, come over to the council hall within two days from now at eight pm," he said, giving her a flyer before he started to walk off. "Well, goodbye for now then. Come along Roger, let's go and put up some more of these flyers."

Roger followed after the Mayor, but not before giving Nancy a stern glare. It was as though he _knew_ that she was suspicious about the goings on in the town. She wasn't sure if that was what he was thinking, nevertheless, it still unsettled her.

As soon as those two were out of site, Nancy quickly rushed off to find Jake and Ben.

It didn't take her too long for her to find them, for Jake was chilling out with his friends and smoking a cigarette while Benjamin was sitting on the bench reading a supernatural book. She then waved to them just as they looked towards her direction.

"Sorry guys, I have ta go now. Will see you all later!" Jake told his friends before getting Ben and rushing over to meet up with Nancy, ignoring his friends' tease on how he's got a 'girlfriend'. "Hey there Nancy, what news do you have for us?"

"Well for starters, you can put out that cigarette in your hand. The last think that _**I**_ want to breath in is second-hand smoking, which then later gives me lung cancer," she said. As soon as Jake put out his cigarette, she then continued. "As for your question, yeah I think I might have stumbled onto something. But we need to go somewhere more private."

"Why?" Ben asked.

"In case someone might be trying to overhear us. Come on, lets go into the woods. It's much safer to talk there than it is in this town," she suggested.

As all three of them wandered off into the woods, they did notice someone staring off into the direction that they had headed off to.

* * *

_Few minutes later, in the woods,_

"So you're saying, that you think that the bodyguard Roger knows what we're up too?!" Jake asked, looking really surprised.

"I'm not sure, but the way he looked at me, it made me feel really uncomfortable!" Nancy explained

"But he's always had that look. What was so different about this one?" Ben asked.

"It was like he was looking into my **_soul_**!" she then said, shuddering from the thought of it.

Jake then rolled his eyes. "Anyways, before you get all melodramatic on us, what did you find on one of your snooping jobs?"

"Oh yeah! Well I'm not entirely sure what I found, but whenever I went to the newspapers and magazines section, there was always someone watching me closely, even following me. The only time they ever stopped following was when I went off to a different section," Nancy explained while taking out all the newspapers and magazines from her backpack.

"That _is_ weird," Ben stated as he looked through the newspapers. "Do you think that those people might've known something that they don't want it to be released to the public?"

"Most likely, although they didn't seem to have been the brightest bunch. After all, if they were smart then they would've realized that the person who set up the firecrackers in the library was me," she stated.

"Can we all please just focus on looking through these articles and seeing if we can find something that might help us get to the bottom of this?!" Jake asked, anxiously runaging though the magazines, hoping to find a clue.

Rolling her eyes, Nancy complied and started looking through the stuff. At first there was nothing worthwhile, just some random celebration announcements, discount advertisements and sports news with the odd burglary in certain places. It was only when she went through the fourth newspaper, did she spot something that stuck out. It was of a fire that had occurred about eight years ago, which not only destroyed a mansion, but that someone had died in that fire. Someone, named Felicity _Thompson_, wife of Hal Thompson the Mayor!

"Hey guys, check this out!" Nancy showed them the article. "Apparently eight years ago, Mayor Thompson's wife was killed in one of those fire incidents! And that was couple months before he even became the Mayor!"

"That's not all. Apparently the Mayor also had a son; Adam Thompson," Jake said.

"Really? I didn't even know he had a son. How come we don't ever hear about him?" Ben asked.

"That's because he's not alive anymore," Jake then stated, showing them an article that he found. "According to this, he was killed eight years ago. On the very day that those kids went into the woods and were attacked by some creature."

"The day that I got amnesia," Nancy realized. "So his son was in the woods like I was. Along with those other kids! That reminds me, whatever happened to the survivors? Did they leave this town after that ordeal?"

"No...in fact they **_all_** ended up mysteriously disappearing! In fact, the last person from this village that was connected to that incident disappeared just three weeks ago!" Jake explained.

"All of this stuff seemed to connect to that incident eight years ago. We just don't know how," Ben said.

"I just wish I could be more helpful, but I can't remember a single **_thing_** from what happened that day!" Nancy explained, looking apologetic.

"Don't worry, it's not your fault. You did everything that you could so far," Jake assured her. "However, although Slender is a nice guy and everything, I'm afraid we can't be lenient with him anymore. We **_need_** to find out the truth of what happened that day."

Nancy sighed. Despite Slender being her friend, she knew that Jake was right. It was time that they got some straight answers. "Yeah alright, we'll ask him as soon as we meet him again."

Just then, they heard a low, animalistic growl a few feet away from where they were, followed by scraping noises. When they turned to see what had made that noise, what they thought was a wild animal, was in fact something far worse!

From first glance, this creature looked to have been a crossover of a naked man and a large hairless animal, especially with it's hunched back, crouched position and sharp fangs protruding from it's mouth. But instead of regular hands, it had a set of long, razor sharp claws that looked as if it could cut through steel. But what unsettled them the most was it's eyes. While it was mainly black and eerie, in the center it was red that glowed, making the creature look even _more_ sinister.

As the trio stared into the creature's eyes, each paralyzed with fear, the creature stared right back at them. However, instead of curiosity or fear, this creature's eyes were filled with hunger and menace. And all of that were aimed towards them!

* * *

Well that's another chapter over and done with. And I have left it with another cliffhanger. heehee XD And a new creature has entered the scene! I am pretty sure you know who it might be.

Anyways, hope you enjoy reading this, and please review!


	13. Danger and Memories Recovered

Summary: When 18 year old Nancy Gale arrived into the isolated town of Blackwood, she never expected to be reacquainted with an old and mysterious friend that she had long since forgotten. As Nancy stays longer in the town, she starts to realize that a dark and frightening secret is being kept, followed by a threatening creature that she had once encountered years ago. Can Nancy and her new friends uncover the secret and stop the evil that threatens to take over the town? Read to find out! Also ratings may change later.

* * *

Chapter 12: Danger and Memories Recovered

The creature's growl grew louder and more ferocious every second it stared at the trio, as it crouched itself down even further.

Jake was the first to speak. "Holy crap, what is _that_?!"

"I thinks its the Rake. I don't know all that much about him, but the images that describe the Rake are similar to this creature," Ben explained, his body shaking with fear while holding onto his brother. "What are we gonna do?"

"I don't know Ben. Nancy, you have any ideas on what we should do here?" Jake asked. There was no response. Jake then turned to look at her. "Nancy? Are you alright?"

Nancy still didn't respond. In fact, it didn't look as if she heard what Jake had said. She was staring at the creature known as the Rake, frozen in terror. It wasn't just because of the appearance of the creature that terrified her, but it was the fact that the creature seemed **_very_** familiar...

_*Flashback*_

_"The Itsy Bitsy Spider climbed up the water spout. Down came the rain, and washed the spider out. Out came the sun, and dried up all the rain. And the Itsy Bitsy Spider went up the spout again," ten year old Nancy sang to herself, as she played with her little yo-yo. She had been in Blackwood for over a month, and yet she hadn't made any friends in the town. In fact, the only friend she ever made ever since got there was Slender, and yet she was only able to see him at night while her parents were asleep. Despite all that, she couldn't help but feel...lonesome._

_"Hi there!" someone called out to her. Filled with curiosity, she turned round to see a young boy, roughly her age, come up to her. There were other kids as well, just standing a few feet away. "I'm Adam, what's your name?_

_"I'm Nancy," she replied, smiling at the boy._

_"Nice to meet you Nancy," Adam said. "Anyways, me and my friends here were just about to play a game of 'hide and seek tag' in the woods, and we were wondering if you wanted to come and play with us?"_

_Hearing that, her smile grew wider. "Yeah sure, I would love to play with you guys!"_

_Pleased with her answer, Adam smiled and held her hand, leading her into the woods with his friends following behind._

_For almost a good hour, the kids spent the afternoon having fun playing hide and seek tag amongst the tall trees, running about and laughing. Even Nancy was having such a great time. In fact, she was having so much fun, she forgot all about the 'rules of the forest' that Slender had told to her!_

_They were all now just running around and having a laugh, when one of the kids spotted something in the distance. "Hey guys, what is that over there?"_

_Nancy, thinking that it was Slender, excitedly turned to where all the other kids were now looking to. Instead of seeing her tall faceless friend, what she saw intrigued her. It was hard to see clearly amongst the bushes, but whatever is was, it was pale, hairless and moving ever so fact, it looked rather shy._

_Now that everyone was looking at the figure, different questions were being asked, yet none of them were being answered._

_"Is it a person?"_

_"Is it naked? Where is it's clothes?"_

_"Maybe its an animal?"_

_"A hairless animal?!"_

_"Hey guys, instead of guessing, maybe we should take a closer look," another kid suggested. Nodding with agreement, they all slowly walked over to where the pale feature was. As they got closer, they noticed that the form itself looked more and more like a person._

_Adam was the first to speak up. "Hello? Are you alright there?"_

_At that point, it move again, this time, lift up it's head. As soon as the head was exposed, that was when all the kid's eyes grew wide, their skin turning pale as a white sheet. It was absolutely terrifying! It even made one or two of the kids gasp in horror. Although she was not as terrified as the others, Nancy was still unsettled by the site of this...'thing'._

_Before anyone had a chance to react, the creature, whatever it may have been, made an ear-splitting roar before it lunged towards the kids!_

_*End of Flashback*_

"Nancy! What are you waiting for, _run_!"

Jake's cries brought Nancy back to the present. As she came back to her senses, she saw the Rake charging straight towards them! Unable to think clearly she did what anyone would do in this sort of situation, she ran. She ran after Jake and Ben, who had already made a head start, while at the same time ran to get away from the monster that was chasing after them. Although they were a few feet ahead, the Rake was gradually catching up to them. And just when their lives were already in danger, Benjamin accidentally tripped over one of the trees' roots, causing him to fall down. And to make matters worse, his glasses came off of his face.

The Rake must've noticed that, for he seemed to have lost all interest in the two teen and aimed straight for little Ben.

"You get away from my brother, you monster!" Jake roared, picking up a large rock and throwing it at the Rake. Although it didn't harm the Rake, but it certainly angered him enough to change his target and aimed for Jake instead!

Before he had a chance to make a lunge for Jake, Nancy suddenly grabbed the Rake from behind, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulled him back, forcing the Rake to back up away from the boys. However, being an immortal creature, the Rake couldn't die from strangulation.

After a moment of struggle between the two, the Rake managed to get the upper-hand. He reached over and grabbed Nancy with his claw-like hands, tearing her top as well as slicing into her skin, and pulled her off of him, slamming her body hard onto the ground. He then slammed his hand down, grasping her neck and forcing her body down. As Nancy continued to struggle, the Rake brought his face right up to hers, hissed, then brought his free hand up above him, preparing to strike her with the death blow.

Jake did try to intervene by grabbing on to that arm, but the Rake's tremendous strength merely just threw him into a tree like a rag doll before he continued with what he was about to do. Despite her constant struggle against the Rake's arm, Nancy just couldn't escape. She knew right then that she was done for. Accepting her fate, she closed her eyes tight shut and braced herself from the incoming impact.

Just then, something slammed into the Rake hard, hurdling him off of Nancy. Feeling his presence suddenly disappear, she opened her eyes and saw, to her surprise, Slender standing right in front of her with his tendrils thrashing wildly, facing the Rake!

The Rake snarled, clenching his razor sharp claws in the process, while staring up at Slenderman with fury. Slender, despite having no facial features, was emanating a strong aura of rage while his tendrils thrashed about like eels. Then, in the blink of an eye, both creatures charged into each other! The trio watched as the creatures fought viciously against one another, Slender's tendrils again the Rake's claws. Seeing them fight like this seemed to impress Jake and Ben, despite the fact that they were almost killed not too long ago. With Nancy however, it seemed to have brought back forgotten memories. Memories that she wished never happened.

_*Flashback*_

_Nancy ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, her lungs feeling as if they were about to burst due to lack of air from running. Her body had traces of blood splatter, even her clothes were stained in certain areas. She could get the image of some of those unfortunate kids that fell victim to the creature that suddenly attacked them. Even that poor boy Adam wasn't lucky enough to escape that fate. In all her years, she had never felt so terrified to the point where she thought that she was going to die._

_After what seemed like forever, she stopped running in order to catch her breath before she continued to run back out of the forest. As she looked around her surroundings, she noticed that everything looked just the same! She knew right away that she was lost. And to top it off, a fierce, bloodthirsty creature with long sharp claws was out to kill and most likely eat her and the remaining others!_

_On cue, the sound of snapping branches were heard, not far from where she was standing. She new that someone, or something, was following her. Not wanting to stay around and be caught, she ran again. Next thing that happened, her leg got caught on a fallen tree branch, causing her to fall face down. Before she had a chance to get up, the creature appeared and jumped on her, pinning her to the ground. She let out an ear-splitting scream, catching the creature by surprise for a brief moment before it composed itself and prepared to devour the young girl._

_Fortunately, lady luck seemed to have been on her side, for just at that moment something had rushed over and lunged at the creature, driving it away from her. As the fight continued, Nancy slowly sat up and turned slowly enough to see, to her utmost delight, her dear friend Slender fighting against the creature that attempted to kill her. The two struggled for at least another minute or two before the creature had decided that he was no match for Slender and took off._

_"Slender! You did it! You beat the monster!" she cried out with joy as she rushed over to her friend, unaware that she had all together forgot the 'don't run in the woods' rule._

_However, instead of expecting his calming aura and friendly voice to sooth her from this ordeal that she went through, what she saw instead surprised her. Slender's appearance seemed...darker. In fact, it was like he didn't recognize her!_

_"S-Slender? What's wrong?" Nancy asked, confused by her friend's behavior. It was like she wasn't talking to the dear friend she once saw and knew._

_At that precise moment, it seemed that time itself had sped up. One minute she was staring up at Slender, confused and scared by his demeanor. Next thing she realized, his tendrils swung round, slamming right into her side, sending her flying into a tree. Her back collided into the tree hard, hitting the back of her head in the process, before her body slumped down onto the ground, her blood trickling down over her face._

_The last thing she saw, before everything blacked out, was of Slender, staring down at her, not once phased by what he had done._

_*End of Flashback*_

As Nancy came back to her senses again, at this point Slender had successfully forced the Rake to back off and retreat through the trees. Slender continued to stare at the direction that the Rake had left, preparing himself in case he returned.

Jake, who had watched the fight in amazement, cheered at Slender. " _Woohoo_! Way to go Slender!"

"That was _so_ cool! Right Nancy?" Ben asked turning to Nancy to see what she thought of the battle. But when he say her expression, he was confused. "Nancy? Are you alright?"

Nancy was not alright. The memories of her past kept playing in her mind over and over again like a broken record, particularly of the moment between her and Slender when he struck her against a tree. She looked up at Slender, her horrified expression still plastered on her face.

Jake was puzzled, and walked over to Nancy. "Hey, what wrong Nancy?"

Still, Nancy didn't say anything, nor did her expression change.

As Slender turned round, and saw the look on her face, he knew. He knew right away that, without a doubt, Nancy had recovered **_all_** of her memories!

* * *

Another chapter finished. This time, not only was there a battle going on between Slenderman and the Rake, but we also saw Slender in what I would call his 'berserk' mode. You will find out why he went into that mode and attacked poor Nancy on the next chapter. Now then, what do you suppose will happen, now that Nancy knows what had happened to her that caused her to have amnesia? Will she despise Slender? Fear him? More importantly, will she forgive him? Well then, I suppose you will have to wait and see. In the meantime, read and review please. The more reviews I get, the better.


	14. Regrets and Shocking Discoveries

Summary: When 18 year old Nancy Gale arrived into the isolated town of Blackwood, she never expected to be reacquainted with an old and mysterious friend that she had long since forgotten. As Nancy stays longer in the town, she starts to realize that a dark and frightening secret is being kept, followed by a threatening creature that she had once encountered years ago. Can Nancy and her new friends uncover the secret and stop the evil that threatens to take over the town? Read to find out! Also ratings may change later.

* * *

Chapter 13: Regrets and Shocking Discoveries

It was the middle of the afternoon in Blackwood. Nancy was in her room, lying on her bed face-down sulking, still wearing her pajamas. It had been almost a day and a half since the incident with the Rake occurred, and not once had she left her room, except to go to the bathroom. Although she was shaken up from the ordeal, she couldn't help but feel guilty for having an argument with Slender. After regaining all of her memories of her past and discovered that Slender was the cause of it, she was furious! It was bad enough that he had attacked her back then, but to keep that secret from her after returning?! How could he do that her?! Even now, the memories of that fight still plagued her mind...

_*Flashback*_

_"Why did you do that to me?!" Nancy asked, rage already setting in._

_**'Look, believe me when I tell you this. I NEVER wanted to harm you,"** Slenderman explained, trying to reason with her. **"However, after the fight, I had not yet calmed myself down enough to return to my senses when you came over to me. That was the reason for my sudden attack upon you. Also, you didn't follow the rules that I told you when we first met."**_

_"I was ten, and I was scared! Remembering those rules was the last thing on my mind!" Nancy began. "The only thing that I could think of was going over to you! The one person besides my parents who I trusted! I never would've thought that you would attack me like that!"_

_**'Believe me, I was just as horrified back then as you are now. As soon as I came back to my senses and saw you, I immediately went over to you to see if you were alright. However, before I had a chance to check you, the villagers were already coming over, your parents amongst them, forcing myself to hide before they arrived and found you,'** he explained to her, his tone filled with remorse and guilt. '**Still, I watched you from the distance of your house, waiting for you to wake up. And when you did, but had forgotten all about me and of your day in this town, well...I didn't know what to do. To make matters worse, your parents had decided to leave the town a few days after you woke up, deciding to have a fresh start with life and in career choice for your sake. The last thing I saw was you in the backseat of the car, being driven out of the town, for good I have thought. But when I say you again after all these years, I thought that this was an opportunity to put that tragic past behind us and rekindle our friendship again.'**_

_"But then why didn't you tell me about the past when you saw me again, Slenderman?!" she then asked._

_Slenderman went completely silent for a brief moent, not knowing how to explain. **'... Because I was afraid you would've hated me, even feared me for what I did to you.'**_

_Nancy still glared at the Slenderman. "**Really!?** How do you think I feel now?" Nancy asked before turning her back towards him. She then glanced at Jake for a moment. "I'm gonna go back home. I need to be alone for a while."_

_With that said, Nancy stormed out of the woods, not once looking back._

_*End of Flashback*_

"Oh God~! I'm such and idiot!" Nancy said as she slammed her head into her pillow. "Why did I yell at him like that?!"

She stayed in her bed sulking, not once getting up. Even when the doorbell rang did she still not get up. It was only when the doorbell kept ringing did she finally get out of her bedroom. As she walked down the stairs into the hallway, towards the front door and opened it, she saw to her surprise that it was Ben and Jake, carrying piles of papers and documents, and a biscuit tin.

"Hey Nancy, we came to see if you were alright," Ben said, walking into the house towards the living room.

"Ugh...I've had better days," she stated, her mood still the same. "So what are you two doing here?"

"Well Miss Moody, we haven't seen you since that incident in the woods. We were both worried and decided to come over." Jake explained, entering the house before giving her the biscuit tin. "Oh and mom made you some more cinnamon pie."

"Where is your mom anyway?"

"Oh she's off to work this afternoon. She changed today's job shift since she wants to participate in tonight's town meeting at eight," Jake then explained. "Which reminds me, you owe me big time! When my mom asked me why you were depressed, I lied and told her it was because the two of us has a huge argument with one another!"

"How's that a problem?" Nancy asked.

"She now assumes that we were secretly dating," he bluntly answered.

Nancy groaned. "Oh joy..." She then walked into the living room and flopped down on one of the sofas. "So what happened to you guys after I left?"

"W-well we did spend a few more minutes with Slender, asking him what you guys were talking about," Ben explained. "He told us about that particular day and what had happened."

"...Did he now?" she said.

"Yes he did," Jake began. "Look, I know I've only just met the guy couple days ago and had a rough moment with him on the first day. But can't you just forgive him for what happened back then? I mean, I could tell he was regretting for not telling you what happened, and for what he did. I bet right now he's feeling horrible deep inside of him."

Nancy sighed. "I know...just that I can't yet face Slender just yet. I'll...I'll go over to him tonight." She then looked at the documents they had with them. "Is that the stuff I got from the library?"

"Yeah we thought it would be a good idea to do a bit of background checking on this town and the Mayor. And surprisingly enough, we did come across something else," he began. "According to some of these old documents that you managed to get, apparently the incident eight years ago was not the first disaster. Apparently there have been several cases of unnatural disasters similar to this one that happened over a hundred years ago!"

"We also discovered something else," Ben began. "According to Slender, while he was fighting the Rake, he notice that there was something odd about him."

This got Nancy's attention. "Odd? What do you mean?"

"Well he said that while the Rake's method and ways of attacking were normal, his eyes looked a bit glassy and unfocused. Like he wasn't even concentrating on what he was doing," he explained.

"So you're saying that, the Rake might have not been the actual culprit and was in fact being controlled?"

"I'm saying, that there might be something else besides Slender and the Rake that's living in this area," Jake explained.

Hearing this news made Nancy groan even louder than before. "Oh great~! That means that there's an unknown creature out there causing mayhem and we have no clue as to what the identity is!"

"Do you suppose these newspapers and documents might have clues to the creature's identity?" Ben asked, looking hopeful.

"I doubt it, I've looked through all this stuff from top to bottom. There isn't anything about a creature or monsters, not even a mentioning that a person might have been responsible. It's like as if all these incidence just happened without someone starting them," Jake explained.

"Unless of course the townspeople from back then had the same suspicions as we did but didn't want the news to spread outside the town," Nancy then suggested. "But even so, they would still need to document these disasters in case it happened again wouldn't they? Any idea where such information would be kept?"

"What about the old Town Hall Archive? Hardly anyone goes in there now since we've got the new Town Hall. Plus, it's the only place that we haven't looked yet," Ben suggested to them.

"You know, that's actually a good idea! Way to go bro!" Jake said, ruffling his brother's hair playfully.

"Yeah but there's just one problem; how do we actually get in there?" Nancy asked.

"Don't worry about that. Leave that part to me," Jake assured. " In the meantime, I suggest we take the time to gather whatever we may need to go into the Town Hall. And that includes flashlights." He then looked to Nancy. "Me and Ben will meet you back here in about an hour."

With the plan made, both Ben and Jake left and went back to their house, gathering whatever they might need for their search. As for Nancy, who at some point had already eaten one fourth of the cinnamon pie that she had just received, pondered over on what other vital things she should bring besides a flashlight. As she looked around the room, her eyes then settled on her rollerblades and the yo-yo that she loved to play a lot. She then spotted some thin yet flexible fishing wire that she had brought with her when she came to the town. Since she didn't expect to be involved in that much excitement, and had thought that would be a lake nearby, she had brought with her some fishing equipment so she could try and do the occasional fishing trip.

As she looked from the yo-yo to the fishing wire, a crude yet clever idea formed in her head. One that might actually prove useful for this task...

* * *

_*Meanwhile, in the woods*_

Slenderman was standing still, sulking against the tree, in the exact same spot where he and Nancy had argued two days ago. Not once did he attept to leave, in case she had decided to come back and talk to him. Unfortunately, it didn't look as if she would.

_'*sighs* How could I have been so self-centered?! I should have told her as soon as she recovered some of her memories,'_ he said to himself, contemplating over his errors. _'And now, it may seem that not only have I made her loose her trust in me, but I may have also lost a very dear friend.'_

As he continued to morose, he heard a faint yet very distinct growl across from where he was. When he looked up, he saw to his dismay and annoyance that it was the Rake again, probably back for another round. Well, as he was in a foul mood, he thought that a fight against this beast might do him some good. So, with his tendrils out and thrashing about, anxious to tear the Rake from limb to limb, he lunged.

Just as he did however, and unexpected thing happened. Several shots were fired, followed by nets being flung over him, one after the other. At first he ignored those flimsy things, for the mortal's meek methods of entrapping him were of always in vain. His superhuman strength and supernatural abilities allowed him to escape those things with ease. However, as he tried to do the same with these nets, he soon realized that he was unable to break them! Next thing that happened, huge volts of electricity coursed from the nets, through his body, causing him to collapse to the ground in immense pain. More shots were then fired, this time, shooting down darts filled with strange liquid into his body. It wasn't long until he felt the drowsiness settle in, his vision getting blurry by the minute. As his mind began to cloud, he could vaguely see a large dark figure, staring down at him with eerie red eyes, and a sinister grin that seemed to match perfectly. Before he had a chance to focus clearly on who it was, his world went completely black.

* * *

_*An hour later, at the old Town Hall*_

"Jake, have you got the door opened yet?!" Nancy complained for the second time.

"Hold on a sec will ya?!" Jake replied, already frustrated as he tried picking the lock. "Man! Did anyone ever tell you that you were impatient?"

"My parents once said that, but then they decided that it was just a phase and that I would get over it later," she explained. She then looked at the way he was picking the lock. "Exactly how many times have you picked a lock?"

"Besides this one? About...four times at least," he admitted. After a few minutes of fiddling the lock, he finally managed to get it open. "Okay, lets get inside before someone sees us."

Once all three entered inside the dark and dusty archive, each of then took out their flashlight and headed towards the 'Hall of Records' room, where all the historical books, old birth and death certificates, and quite possibly secret documents that have been kept hidden for over a hundred years were stacked together.

"Okay, lets spit up and looked for something that might give us the answers to this whole thing. If you find something, holler out," Jake said as he started looking through the first pile of papers.

With a sigh, both Ben and Nancy followed pursuit and went to different parts of the room, searching through anything that might mention about the incidents similar to what was happening right now.

For what seemed to have been hours, all three looked and looked through each shelf, and yet could not find what they were looking for. Just when they were about to give up, Nancy opened one of the files and discovered something unusual. While some of the papers were eighty years old, there was a police notebook that was only eight years old! When she opened it up to look at the first page, that when her eyes went wide. For there, written in bold letters, was the name 'Earnest Harper: Sheriff Deputy'.

"Jake, I think you should come and take a look at this!"

Jake quickly rushed over to see what Nancy had discovered. As soon as he saw the police notebook and the name on it, he froze. "Th-That's my dad's! I remembered that he used to write everything down in this thing at home, even when it wasn't work day. But why is it here?" he asked, taking the book from her hands.

"It's just a theory, but I think your dad was the one who placed this in here," Nancy suggested.

What? Why do you think that?"

"Well think about it. You said yourself that your dad was secretly looking for clues related to the town's misfortune and anything that might indicate that the mayor was behind everything," she began to explain. "Also, you pointed it out that if he did discover something, he wouldn't hide it where some would find it. He would leave it somewhere where it would be the last place that ANYONE would look to find. Am I right?"

"Well, yeah I suppose. Just that I never thought that he would've hidden the notebook in this place," Jake said, looking through his father's notes. Ben had also joined them at that point.

"Wow, dad sure liked to write a lot in his notebook. Look at the list of crime solving he helped with," Ben stated. He then spotted something sticking out from one of the pages. "Hey, what's that thing sticking out?"

Glancing over at what Ben was talking about, Jake saw the item, pulled it out from the notebook to discover what appeared to have been letters and numbers. "What it that?"

"They're the dewey decimal system. And from what I can see, not from those in a library," Ben answered as he looked closely as the paper. Taking the paper, he then walks towards one of the bookshelves, scanned through for a minute before pulling out a large thick book. "Thought so. It's the dewey decimal system for this archive. I think dad came here looking for what we're looking for, and found something."

Jake, seeing his little brother struggling to get the book out, walked over and helped him out. Once they got the book off the shelf, they slowly carried it down to the floor, shinning their lights onto it to get a better look. It wasn't an old book, but it was fairly worn out, its dull red cover covered in small scratches and scrapes. Even as they opened it up, the pages were fairly worn out too.

Ben then looked as the piece of paper again. "Oh, looks like the page number is on here as well. Let's see...page 253." He then flips through the pages until he came across the page. What he saw however confused him. "Huh? What's all this?"

"It looks like a list of names of the people that had been mayors over the years, including Mayor Thomson's name. Hey, it says here that his full name is 'Hal Adam Bradley Issac Thompson'. Is that true?" Nancy asked, looking at the name on the page.

"Yeah, I mean his actual full name was Hal Adam Thompson, but he added 'Bradly Issac' when he became the Mayor," Jake explained.

"Really? He should've just stuck with the original. His new full name sucks!"

"Hey guys... take a look at this," Ben began whilst looking at the page. "Some of these names sound odd here too, and just as long."

As all three looked at the names on the list, they noticed that they did indeed sound strange. For instance, there was a Hank Alan Brian Irwin Tisdale, who was the mayor of this town in the 1940s, then there was a Harold Alistair Baltus Ian Taylor who was Mayor in the 1960s. After that there was a Hamish Alec Baron Igor Thome, Mayor in the 1980's, then finally Mayor Hal Adam Bradley Issac Thompson, who became Mayor in 2002. It was apparent that every twenty years, these men who became Mayors would suddenly either add an extra name or change one of their names.

However, what was surprising was that not only did certain bizarre incidents occurred during their reign as Mayors, but that each of them beside their present Mayor had an exceptionally short period of being the town Mayor. As they looked carefully for the reasons why in the book, it was then that they made a discovery; all of these men died unexpectedly!

"Okay, is there some sort of curse that befalls on those that become the Mayor of this town?! Cause if so, now is a good time to be telling everyone that being Mayor isn't all that fun!" Nancy exclaimed.

Jake gave her a look that said 'you're an idiot'. "Believe me Nancy, if that were true, then ALL of these Mayors on the list here would've died unexpectedly. As you can see, only these few did die that way."

"That still doesn't explain why these people in particular died so suddenly. I mean, there is no explanation given here!" Ben stated.

"More importantly, why is it that they're names are so long? Honestly, it's like all these guys wanted to have the same first initials as one another, like it was a tradition!" Nancy pointed out.

"Initials you say?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, take a look. The same 'H', same 'A', 'B', 'I', and 'T'," she explained whilst pointing to each letter. "And by the looks of things, someone else noted that as well." She then pointed to what someone had written on the bottom of a page next to the list.

Jake's eyes widened. "Dad's handwriting! But...I don't get it. What do these letters have to do with what's going on around here?"

Just then, Ben let out a horrified gasp. When the two teens looked towards the young boy, they noticed that his face was so pale and his eyes wide and filled with fear. It was like he saw a ghost!

"Ben, what's wrong?" Jake asked.

"I-It can't be...oh man, I hope that's not it!" Ben cried out, shaking with fear. "Cause if it is, then we might be in more trouble than we realize."

"Wait a second, are you saying that you've figured out something?" Nancy asked.

Ben nodded. "Unfortunately, I think I have. I think I've discovered who our third creature is."

"Really? Who is it?!" Jake demanded.

Instead of saying it out loud, Ben took out his pen and on the book, he wrote in big, bold letters one word; '**HABIT**'.

Both Jake and Nancy were still puzzled. "Yeah we know that the initials spell out the word 'habit', but we still don't get it. What's a 'habit'?" Nancy asked.

Ben groaned. "HABIT is a malicious and malevolent entity, who controls its victims from within; causing them to mutilate themselves,as well as kill or harm others!"

"Wait, so you're saying that this entity 'HABIT' is controlling the Mayor?" she then asked.

"I think it's worse then that," Ben explained. "According to an entry that was talked about on the same internet site as Slenderman and the Rake, it was believed that HABIT seeks to create the perfect "shell" by forcing his 'inHABITed' to kill their beloved. And since it's most likely that HABIT has been in this town ever since that killing incident eight years ago, he possessed Mayor Thompson shortly before that fire that killed Mrs Thomson started."

"Wait, so if what you're saying is true...then that means...," Jake began to say but couldn't finish the rest of his sentence, fearful for what he might say would be true.

Ben slowly nodded. "That Mayor Thompson...has BECOME **HABIT**."

Suddenly, an object was thrown at them, landing directly in the center of where they were. As soon as it made contact with the floor, a big burst of gas errupted from the device, surrounding them like a huge cloud. As the three coughed and spattered through the thick gas, their visions suddenly became blurry. Within seconds, each of them collapsed onto the floor, one by one as their consciously soon faded in a black dreamless abyss...

* * *

Woop! Finally I have finished this chapter! I had a serious case of the writer's block, so I wasn't able to write for quite a while! And yes, more shocking twists to this piece. Oh and just to be clear, dunno if all about this entity is true, but for this story it works XD Sorry that I have to leave you all in a cliffhanger...again. But if you want to know what happens next...well...read and review if you can while I take the time to write the next chapter.


	15. Never Back Down

Summary: When 18 year old Nancy Gale arrived into the isolated town of Blackwood, she never expected to be reacquainted with an old and mysterious friend that she had long since forgotten. As Nancy stays longer in the town, she starts to realize that a dark and frightening secret is being kept, followed by a threatening creature that she had once encountered years ago. Can Nancy and her new friends uncover the secret and stop the evil that threatens to take over the town? Read to find out! Also ratings may change later.

* * *

Chapter 14: Never Back Down

They didn't know how long they had been unconscious, but when Jake, who was the first of the three to wake up, opened his eyes and saw that they were no longer in the town hall archives. Instead they were now in what appeared to have been an abandoned warehouse, encased in a large steel cage, bolted with a large thick lock. With a groan, he slowly sat up and dragged himself over to the other two.

"Nancy! Ben! Wake up!" Jake said, shaking them.

Nancy moaned before opening her eyes. "What~?" she asked. She then saw her surroundings as Ben also woke up. "What the hell is going on here?!"

A dark sinister chuckle suddenly echoed through the room, unsettling the trio. Footsteps were then heard coming from the darkest part of the room. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the 'Three Investigators'. I must say, I didn't expect you to come this far so soon but...no matter."

They didn't need to see who was in the shadows to know who was talking. Then, on cue, stepping out from the dark corner, was Mayor Thompson. Although his outward appearance was still the same, his facial features had configured from his 'usual' creepy-happy expression to a malevolent smirk, his eyes were now glowing red and ominous, in fact quite demonic.

And he wasn't alone. Right beside him was his bodyguard Roger, wearing the same evil smirk as the Mayor. And right behind them were four to five random citizens of the town, however they expressions were somewhat off. There was no expressions on their faces, just blank faces with glazed eyes, almost as if they weren't quite alive.

Nancy narrowed her eyes. "Well it wasn't that hard to figure things out Mayor Thompson...or would you rather be called 'HABIT'?"

The Mayor, now better known as HABIT, smirked even wider. "Ah, so you know who I am then?"

"It took us a little while to figure it out, but we knew earlier that there had to have been another creature residing in the area, especially since we knew that Slender was not the 'monster' responsible for these incidents. And the Rake wouldn't have been skillful enough, or smart enough, to create this much chaos on his own," Nancy explained. "However, as far as the people living in this town, **_you_** were the main suspect on our list."

HABIT raised his eyebrow in amusement. "Oh? How?"

"My father was the first to suspect you," Jake butted in. "He noticed that every incident and strange changes that happened in this town occurred shortly after we had the Mayor and told me of his suspicions before his death eight years ago. Then there were these newspapers and documents that we discovered in the library. They tell us of the fire that burned down some buildings, including the one that killed Mrs Thompson, the Mayor's wife. There are even some notices of people disappearing mysteriously in this town, and the people who were reported missing were also those who survived that massacre in the woods against the Rake eight years ago, the same incident that killed the Mayor's son, Adam."

HABIT looked bored. "Was that really all you had?"

"No, there's still more of it," Nancy then said. "Two days ago, we were attacked by the Rake but managed to survive. After that, a friend of ours explained that the Rake was acting stranger than usual. Apparently, he was under someone's control; _**yours **_to be exact."

"But what we've discovered today proves to us that not only is it you, but that you are the entity HABIT," Ben bravely stepped in, surprising both Jake and Nancy. "Every twenty years, certain people would take the position as Mayor, changing their names in the process. And during their term, strange occurrences such as unexpected fires and people disappearing without a fair warning would happen, then in the end each of those Mayors would die unexpectedly, their cause of death never recorded. These things did sound familiar at first, but I was unsure of it. It was only when I saw the similar initials of the Mayors' names did it all make sense."

"My, aren't you a resourceful little boy. It appears that even at my advanced stages, I still underestimate the younger generation. Still, I'm afraid your research won't save you for what will soon befall you," HABIT said as he stepped closer to them, staring at Ben with amusement, causing him to shake with fear. "Yes, like you said, I am the one responsible for the disasters that occurred to this town. And I am also responsible for those disappearances. And as for your father Jake and Benjamin, his death as you might have figured out was not an accident. He was murdered."

At that precise moment, an unsettling silence settled in the room. Whilst Ben clutched onto Nancy, surprised from what he heard, Jake however stood still, almost frozen. His fists then clenched really tight while his horrified expression quickly turned into rage. "You...you killed my dad?!"

"Oh no, I didn't kill him. I leave the messy stuff to Roger. He was the one who killed your father and made it look like an accident," HABIT explained while Roger grinned with pleasure, as if remembering the events that occurred between him and their father. "Your father was a foolish man, thinking he could discover my secrets and find enough evidence to stop me. Had he not meddled in places where shouldn't have been, he might still have been alive."

That did it. With a blinding rage, Jake lunged towards them, despite being imprisoned in a steel cage. "You bastard! I'll kill you!" he roared.

Nancy quickly jumped in between and held him back, not wanting him to hurt himself by slamming into bars. "Jake don't! We're outnumbered!" To make matters worse, Roger then brought out his gun and pointed it at Ben, threatening to pull the trigger if they tried to escape the cage.

Seeing this stopped Jake in his tracks. Despite wanting revenge, the last thing he wanted was to loose his brother along the way.

"Why are you doing all of this?!" Nancy asked.

"Why? I do this cause it's fun. I enjoy meddling with people's lives, inhabiting their bodies and forcing them to kill their loved ones. Or controlling someone like the Rake to kill those I target. Some of these people that I inhabit sometimes refuse to kill, therefore I end up killing them instead. Or they kill themselves. Whichever happens first, I don't care," HABIT explained. "Although Hal here was a different story. You see, after his beloved son was killed thanks to my doing, he became utterly depressed. I could tell almost immediately that this was a man who would do almost anything to get him back. So I went to him and told him that I had the power to bring back his son from the dead. However, if he wanted his son back, he must allow me to inHABIT his body and do exactly as I told him. Then, once I inHABITED his body, I then pressured him into killing his wife, feeding him lies and telling him that she was a slut and was sleeping with half the men in the town, and that she didn't care about their son's death. I have to say, the man really loved his son. Killed his wife without hesitation. Little did he realize that he fell right into my trap. And now he's completely under my control!"

Jake glared at HABIT, holding Ben close to him. "What do you plan to do to this town?!"

"What I plan to do? Well, that's very simple; I want to take control of this isolated town, and its citizens. And also, upon Hal's request, to dispose of all the kids who had survived from the Rake's attack eight years ago, for it was unfair for his son to die while the rest lived on. And so far, I have got rid over every survivor. Well, all except for one." he then set his eyes on Nancy. "You my dear, are the last surviving human from that day. Although, if the Slenderman didn't interfere with the Rake's hunt, you would've been killed off, making my task a lot easier for me! Unfortunately, due to that little mishap, not only did you _survive_, but you ended up leaving this town!"

Nancy frowned. "Is that why it's taken you eight years for your plan to take action?"

HABIT nodded his head, grinning from ear to ear. "Anyone who has seen our kind, no matter how young or weak you are, still need to be eliminated in order to keep our activities a secret, or be converted to a servant for our purposes, also known as 'proxies'. Like Roger for instance; he's **_my_** proxy, and a very efficient one which I'm happy to have in my possession. The others here are...not so great but nevertheless useful to have around," he began whilst glancing at Jake and Ben. "Unfortunately for you two, not only do you know about us, but you have also discovered my plans, therefore you will also die with her."

"Tell us something that we _**don't**_ know?!" Jake responded, holding his brother close to him.

"Oh believe me, it gets better. You see, for years I have tried to get back at old Slendy for years! Stealing my prey, protecting his proxies, even killing my 'puppets'! Now that downright cruel to me! But guess what? Tonight I am going get back at him by killing you three in front of him!" he cried out with excitement.

"You honestly think he'll just stand there and watch you kill us?!" Nancy asked, mildly amused.

"No of course he wouldn't. Especially when it involves you, the one human who he cared for so dearly," HABIT began, his voice becoming more and more demonic than before. "Which is why I have him in the new Town Hall, imprisoned in a special cage that was designed to keep creatures like him contained, his powers nullified, where I will soon have you dragged over to where he is along with your friends, and Roger here will execute you in front of him."

Nancy was horrified from what she just heard. In fact all three of them were. Those cowards! They would rather play dirty then to fight fair and square! Her fingers clenched in anger at the thought.

"Now I would _**LOVE** _to stay and chat, but I'm afraid I've got more important business to attend to before dealing with you three. For you see, in order to rule this town, I have to make sure I have as many loyal subject backing me up. Even if it means I have to take control over their simple little minds! And gathering them all into the Town Hall for a 'meeting' will make my brainwashing task easier!"

Jake and Ben were frozen still. The Town Hall meeting was where their mother was going to. If HABIT was planning to brainwash the town, that meant that their mother was going to...

As if he read their minds, he something with laughter. "Oh don't worry you two, I won't harm your dear mother...just her mind!" He laughed again before he continued, starting to walk away. "Although it won't matter anyways since neither of you will be around much longer. But don't worry, I'll be sure to _send her your regards_."

**_Clang!_** The metal bars rung loudly from a hard impact, stopping everyone in their tracks. They turned and saw, to their surprise, Nancy with her fist slammed against the bar, her hair spread out, like a lion's mane. However, what seemed to unsettle HABIT and his bodyguard were her eyes. Her once calm yet stern eyes had now changed from mild anger to full-on rage as they stared directly into HABIT's.

"**Mark**. **My**. **Words**. The moment we get out of here, and we will, I will stop you. Even if it kills me in the process!" she then lowered her arm away from the bar, now with a huge dent from where she hit it.

The two adversaries stared at one another, never once adverting their gazes. Despite HABIT's attempt to glare back, he was no match for Nancy. He didn't understand why, but he felt cold whenever he looked into her eyes, like as if he was looking into a dark abyss. And yet, that was not the worst feeling. What he also felt, which unsettled him a lot, was fear.

Shaking those feelings off, HABIT looked away quickly. "We shall see." He then left the warehouse, followed by Roger and three of his slaves. The other two stayed behind, keeping an eye on the prisoners in case they tried to escape. After taking a deep breath and straightened his outfit, he then marched over to the new Town Hall, where his long-awaited victims were settled down, unaware of the fate that was to come.

* * *

_*Meanwhile, in the abandoned warehouse*_

Jake, Benjamin and Nancy were sitting in the cage, sulking. With HABIT brainwashing the citizens, his two minions just outside the cages watching their every movements, and Slenderman being held prisoner, there was just no hope for them to escape and save the town!

"What are we going to do?" Ben asked, breaking the long uncomfortable silence that surrounded them.

Jake sighed. "...I don't know bro. I always imagined finding Dad's killer and take them out single-handedly. And yet, even when we _**DID** _find them, in the end I wasn't able to do anything

"So is that it? Are we just gonna give up?" Ben asked.

''No, we're not," Nancy suddenly spoke up, turning round to face the two boys, determination in her eyes. "Good guys never give up. Not when lives are at stake. After all, did Tom Cruise ever turned down given missions in Mission Impossible one, two and Ghost Protocol even though they were almost impossible?"

"No. And by the way, the character's name was Ethan Hunt," Jake explained.

"That's beside the point! And did Van Helsing ever stop fighting vampires and werewolves even when outnumbered or deceived?"

"No."

"AND, did Sherlock Holmes, the Hardy Boys, or Nancy Drew ever gave up on a mystery case when it was too hard for them?"

"...I get Sherlock Holmes, but who are the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew?" Jake asked.

"Only the greatest young fictional detectives ever known! I can't believe you haven't even heard about them!" Nancy dramatically exclaimed. "Whatever, the point is that those guys never gave up when it seemed like the bad guys were winning, and neither as we! We're gonna get out of here, we're gonna save Slender and the townspeople, and we're gonna stop HABIT once and for all." She then looked at Jake. "And if your father were still alive, I'm pretty sure he'd be thinking the same thing."

Realizing that she was right, Jake stood up. "You're right, my father would never give up, and neither will I!" He started. "We've got to stop this, before HABIT takes over this town and spreads his corruption around all the nearby towns and cities."

"Yeah, but how are we gonna get out of here? We're still trapped inside this cage, remember?" Ben explained.

Just then, they heard a couple of large whacks and clangs, followed by a couple of heavy objects falling to the ground. When they turned to where the sound came from, they saw to their surprise the two brainwashed minions on the ground, with two familiar figures towering over them wielding either a shovel or a rusty metal pipe.

"Phew! That was a lot easier than I thought it would be!" Carl stated.

"Easy?! Try lifting a shovel over your head when you get to my age, then we'll talk about what's easy!" Old Phil argued, leaning on the shovel.

"Carl! Phil! You guys are alright!" Nancy said, pleased to see some familiar faces. "How did you find us?"

"And why aren't you guys at the Town Meeting?" Jake added.

"Well I had to work late to fix some pipes at Big Joe's place so I couldn't go to the meeting. But than Old Phil came by and told me that he saw you three being carried off here and so we both came down to investigate," Carl explained, grabbing the keys that were hanging against the old wall.

"I never did trust that good for nothing Mayor Thompson. Ever since he started making changes around this town," Old Phil began whilst Carl unlocked the cage door. "I saw him and these lot coming out of the old town hall with you three and I knew something was up so I followed. And after hearing everything that he told you, I immediately rushed over to Carl for some assistance."

"Well we're just glad to see that not everyone have been brainwashed," Jake explained as he got out of the cage, followed by Ben then Nancy.

"So apart from you two, is there anyone else that you know who hasn't gone to the meeting?" Nancy asked.

"Well Big Joe was with me since he had to wait until I was done. I think one of his workers was there because they had to clean up some mess that was made..," Carl began listing the people that had not been brainwashed. "Oh and then there's Mr Greenslade, owner of the dry goods store who I know was staying at home with Mrs Greenslade. So apart from those few, I don't think there are any others that haven't been-"

"_**NANCY GALE**_," a menacing tone suddenly spoke.

All five turned to see, much to their exasperation, Boris and his buddies marching towards the group. The still had the odd burn marks and bruises on their bodies from the burger joint incident, but then again, Nancy still had the faint bruise mark over her left eye.

Boris cracked his knuckles, smirking whilst standing right in front of Nancy, his tall bulky form looming over her small yet well toned body frame. "Well well, after avoiding me for the last few days, I finally bump into you!" he suddenly grabbed her t-shirt and pulled her up, hovering her above him with her feet dangling. "So guess what, its payback time!"

"Put her down Boris!" Jake said, his piercing blues stared directly at the gang while going up to the big brute, his younger brother hiding behind Carl. Nancy continued to hover above Boris, her eyes still covered by her bangs.

Boris continued to smirk, amused by what he sees."Looky here boys! The 'emo' boy finally decides to take a stand. Well guess what _grimmy_, ain't gonna happen! But don't worry, as soon as me and the boys are done dealing with her, you're _next_!"

"Hey guys, now calm down! We've got more problems here than a simple feud," Carl tried to explain, hoping to ease the tension that was beginning to build. Unfortunately, it didn't.

"Shut it! I ain't listening to a bunch of low-class weaklings! Now back off before we decide to make you mutts obey!" Boris spat out, daring them to make any attempts to fight back.

"...Mutts? Is that what you think of us?" Nancy suddenly spoke, her tone unreadable while her expression was still hidden by her hair.

Before Boris had even the chance to turn round to face her, Nancy suddenly grabbed his wrist and twist it hard, forcing him to let go of her t-shirt. What happened next shocked everyone. Not only did Nancy still had a firm grip on Boris' arm, but she quickly grabbed the front of his shirt before flipping him over her right shoulder, causing Boris to land hard on his back! Before Boris had a chance to sit up, Nancy quickly pressed her right foot down on his neck, putting pressure on his windpipe, but not enough to kill him.

"Now listen here, you lump of shit! Just because you're some high and mighty snob, doesn't mean you should treat people like dirt! If anything, you and your friends are nothing but a bunch of measly _cockroaches_ that **deserves** to be squashed into the ground!" she said as she continued to press her food down on his neck, making it difficult for him to breathe. "In fact, I would _**gladly** _crush you right now!"

"Nancy, _don't_!" Jake warned as he rushed over to stop her, only for Nancy to put up her hand, indicating him not to get involved. Seeing the serious yet harsh look on her face, he sulked back and watched, praying that she wouldn't do anything foolish.

"...However, I've got more important things to do than wasting my time dealing with you, and your brainless friends," she began, pulling her foot away, allowing Boris to sit up and breathe normal. "The Mayor is the one behind all the mysterious disappearances, deaths, and many more! And now he and his loyal subjects have gathered everyone into the new Town Hall and is brainwashing them all, turning them into his mindless servants! So unless you lot want to spend the rest of your lives either in the ground or as mindless minions, you either need to leave us alone and run off elsewhere **or** help us!"

"Help you?! Ha! What makes you think that we would WANT to help?!"

Nancy frowned. "Because if the Mayor succeeds and brainwashes everyone in this town, it won't just end here. Oh no, he'll concur every town, state and country until he has fully corrupted the whole world with his evil unless we stop him now! If we don't, then we're all screwed! Is that what you want to happen?!"

Boris and his friends stared at one another, processing through with what Nancy had just said, each thinking the same thing. If what she said was true, that they were all in grave danger, then how could they refuse? They didn't want to be controlled by some crazed lunatic, and if helping these guys was gonna help avoid that situation, then taking that chance was better than no chance at all.

Nodding in agreement, Boris then turned to look at Nancy. "Alright, we'll help. So what's the plan?"

* * *

Finally! Another chapter completed! Sorry this took so long, but I've been really busy. Plus I've had the bad case of writer's block...which kept coming and going. Anyways, I've got the next chapter planned out, however I have no idea how long it'll take for me to complete that one. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this story so far, and I'll try and get the next chapter done as soon as I can...without too much distraction.


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